Measuring driver responses at railway level crossings

• Published in: Accident Analysis and Prevention
• Main Author: Tey L.-S.; Ferreira L.; Wallace A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79961169668&doi=10.1016%2fj.aap.2011.06.003&partnerID=40&md5=c65db157742b61538e4cdb323a70153e

Railway level crossings are amongst the most complex of road safety control systems, due to the conflicts between road vehicles and rail infrastructure, trains and train operations. Driver behaviour at railway crossings is the major collision factor. The main objective of the present paper was to evaluate the existing conventional warning devices in relation to driver behaviour. The common conventional warning devices in Australia are a stop sign (passive), flashing lights and a half boom-barrier with flashing lights (active). The data were collected using two approaches, namely: field video recordings at selected sites and a driving simulator in a laboratory. This paper describes and compares the driver response results from both the field survey and the driving simulator. The conclusion drawn is that different types of warning systems resulted in varying driver responses at crossings. The results showed that on average driver responses to passive crossings were poor when compared to active ones. The field results were consistent with the simulator results for the existing conventional warning devices and hence they may be used to calibrate the simulator for further evaluation of alternative warning systems. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.