Speed Change Behavior on Highway Tunnel Entrance Influenced by Different Driving Experience, Relative Distance from Tunnel Entrance, and Road Slope

Tunnel entrances are prone to traffic accidents due to changes in vehicle speed. However, the constraints of driving experience, relative distance from the tunnel entrance and road slope type often affect the output of speed change behavior. This paper focused on studying the speed change behaviors of tunnel entrances differing in the three main factors mentioned above. This leads to three types of behaviors: continuous deceleration, uniform speed, and continuous acceleration. Multinomial logit models were utilized to analyze the effect of these three main factors. Evaluation of models showed that speed change behaviors vary according to driving experience, relative distance from the tunnel entrance and road slope type. Identifying speed change behaviors based on different driving experience and road environment is important for future road and tunnel designs.