International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems - Simulation Analysis on Driving Behavior during Traffic Sign Recognition - Article

Sep 18, 2026

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Simulation analysis of driving behavior during traffic sign recognition investigates how drivers’ attention and perception are influenced by traffic signs and how such effects relate to risky driving. The study uses a driving simulator with a road environment designed according to China’s road traffic sign and marking standards, records performance and driving indicators, and collects eye-tracking data while participants recognize signs at multiple speeds. The work defines and analyzes indicators linked to risky driving and discusses safety-relevant implications for selecting thresholds in sign recognition.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

1. Introduction

2. Methods

2.1. Participants

2.2. Simulate scene

2.3. Driving simulator

2.4. Eye tracker

2.5. Experimental procedure

International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems, Vol.4, No. 3 (May, 2011) . Simulation Analysis on Driving Behavior during Traffic Sign Recognition Lishan Sun Key Laboratory of Traffic Engineering, Beijing University of Technology Beijing, 100124, P.R. China Liya Yao∗ School of Mechanical and Vehicular Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing, 100081, P.R. China Jian Rong Key Laboratory of Traffic Engineering, Beijing University of Technology Beijing, 100124, P.R. China Jinyan Lu Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida International University Florida, 33174, USA 1. Introduction Traffic accidents kill thousands of people every year. Whenever a driver takes his eyes off the road, even for a few seconds, he put his life and others lives at risk. The traffic signs transfer trip information to drivers through vectors like words, graphs and numbers, which contribute a lot to the distraction of driver during their recognition. According to Stutts’s research, 8.3% drivers who were involved in the official accident in USA (1995-1999) indicated that they were distracted by foreign objects (including signs), 5.4% said that they“looked but did not see” 1. Stutts’s research strengthen the argument that traffic sign with ∗ [Corresponding author: yaoliya@bit.edu.cn](Corresponding author: yaoliya@bit.edu.cn) Published by Atlantis Press Copyright: the authors excessive information will affect driving behavior, and leading to risky driving. The earliest studies in 1960s on traffic signs were related to impact assessment and cost estimation, etc2. Since 1980s, researchers started to focus on the driving behavior during traffic sign recognition by measuring their characteristics, reaction time, and sign recall3-4. Effect of traffic signs on drivers has been a topic of considerable interest to researchers during the past few years. They covered a wide range of aspect related to recognition, comprehension, distraction, response, and recollection5-8. Several studies have been carried out in discussing the relationships between stress, strain, task and driving performance9-11. Based on the above-mentioned researches, Bendak assessed the effects of roadside advertising signs on driving performance on a simulator12. Five performance indicators, including drifting from lane, recklessly crossing dangerous intersections, number of tailgating times, over-speeding and turning or changing lanes without signaling, drop consistently with the presence of advertising signs in the experiment, which indicate that the advertisement signs create a potential risk factor by distracting drivers off their original task which is driving. Although effect of traffic signs on drivers has been widely discussed in previously researches, two important questions remain to be answered: What indicators should be selected to quantitatively reflect the correlation between recognition of traffic sign and risky driving? Furthermore, how to determine the threshold on the traffic signs with Chinese character from safety driving aspect? This dissertation does some in-depth study of risky driving during traffic sign recognition on the driving simulator. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 introduces the basic methods of the experiment. Section 3 presents the indicators relate with the risky driving during traffic sign recognition and the analysis result, followed by the conclusions presented in Section 4. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants Twenty gender-balanced participants, aged between 22 and 32, holders of a valid driving license for more than three years, were recruited in this study. All participants’ vision was normal and they were required to drive for more than 30 minutes in the simulator before the test. These conditions above for inclusion in the experiment were put in order to minimize the difference between the simulation and real scene. 2.2. Simulate scene

FAQs

How does the study explain the risk caused by traffic sign recognition?

Traffic signs transfer information that can distract drivers when their attention shifts away from the primary driving task. Prior research cited in the introduction links sign-related distraction to risky driving behavior.

What equipment and measurements are used to analyze driving behavior?

The experiment uses a driving simulator and an eye tracker. Participants’ fixation duration, visual cognition time, acceleration changes, and driving offsets are recorded while they recognize traffic signs.

How are the simulated traffic signs and road environment set up?

The simulated two-way road and lane markings follow China’s Road Traffic Sign and Marking Standard (GB 5768-2009). Distances between signs and unfamiliar location names are chosen to maintain realism and adequate recognition time.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Fez