The Influence of Figures in Warning Signs at the Manual Toll Station on the Lane Change Timing of Drivers in the Context of Virtual Reality of High-Proportion ETC Vehicles

The increase of ETC (electronic toll collection system) vehicles on expressways has changed the proportion of ETC/MTC (manual toll collection system) lanes at toll stations. Based on a driving simulator, three toll gate lane warning sign schemes (scheme for present situation, MTC guidance scheme, and arrow + MTC guidance scheme) were proposed in this study. Driving simulation experiments were conducted to study the influence of figures in warning signs at the manual toll station on the lane change timing of drivers. It was found that the addition of arrows to the warning signs can significantly shorten the response time and guide the driver to make lane change decisions earlier to reduce the congestion between MTC vehicles and the mainline ETC vehicles at the toll plaza, thereby improving the traffic capacity and safety.