01697317

Component

Driver behavior and poor judgement account for 94 percent of automobile and train collisions at railroad-highway crossings. This research sought to understand and mitigate the impacts of driver distraction driver performance in level at-grade railroad crossings. To accomplish this, the effectiveness of warning devices for at-grade railroad crossings was studied in a driving simulator environment. Fifty-three participants were recruited to drive 2 simulated worlds, each containing 6 different scenarios of railroad grade crossings. Twelve experimental scenarios of railroad grade crossings were developed to evaluate driver performance as participants traversed these crossings. The application of driving simulator technology is advantageous in that allows the modeling and manipulation of real word scenarios in a controlled experimental setting. Participants were either distracted, or not distracted, and the drivers’ glance and driving behavior were observed. The scenarios centered on varying four key safety factors at each crossing: 1) The presence or absence of a vehicle ahead of the driver, 2) The visibility of the advance warning sign, 3) The visibility of the crossbuck and the flashing lights; And lastly, 4) the state of the flashing lights The greatest difference in the proportion of glances would be seen between participants who were distracted and those who were not. Distracted drivers, particularly those performing the in-vehicle task, had difficulty in detecting grade crossings accordingly as compared to non-distracted drivers. In all groups, participants had difficulty in navigating the grade crossing environment, which provides reason to investigate supplementary treatments in future research endeavors.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB60 Standing Committee on Highway/Rail Grade Crossings.

19-04859

English

6p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Distraction; Driving simulators; Railroad grade crossings; Traffic control devices

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-04859

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:23AM