Effects of day–night conditions and tunnel length on drivers’ psychological stress: Insights from a real-world driving study

Clicks: 14
ID: 328542
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Steady

Ranked #35 of 44 articles by views in Transportation Safety and Environment

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Tunnels are demanding driving environments that can induce substantial physiological stress. Although previous research has explored drivers’ stress responses in tunnels, the independent effects of day–night driving conditions and tunnel length, as well as their combined influence on drivers’ physiological responses, remain insufficiently understood. This study addressed this gap by examining both the main and interactive effects of day–night driving conditions and tunnel length on drivers’ stress using heart rate variability (HRV) indicators. A real-world driving experiment was conducted with 32 participants who drove through tunnels of varying lengths under daytime and nighttime driving conditions. The results showed significant main effects of both day–night conditions and tunnel length on driver stress, indicating that environmental factors independently influence physiological strain. Importantly, nighttime driving induced higher stress levels than daytime driving, and longer tunnels were associated with greater physiological load because of prolonged exposure. Moreover, a significant interaction between tunnel length and day–night conditions was observed, indicating that nighttime driving further intensified the stress of longer tunnel exposure. These findings highlight limitations of current tunnel design and traffic management strategies, emphasizing the need for adaptive infrastructure design and dynamic control measures to mitigate elevated stress risks in tunnel driving environments.
Reference Key
openalex_W7212306790 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Juqiang Wu, Zhengwu Wang, Jie Wang, Shuai Huang, Amjad Pervez
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal Transportation Safety and Environment
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/tse/tdag055
URL
https://academic.oup.com/tse/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/tse/tdag055/71032522/tdag055.pdf
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.