SUMMARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAIL-HIGHWAY CROSSING ACCIDENT PREDICTION FORMULAS AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION MODEL

The Highway Safety Acts of 1973 and 1976, and the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978, provide funding authorizations to individual states to improve safety at public rail-highway crossings. The installation of active motorist warning devices, such as flashing lights or flashing lights with gates, is an important part of crossing safety improvements. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) assists states and railroads in determining effective allocations of Federal funds for rail-highway crossing safety improvements. This report describes the resource allocation procedure developed to assist in the allocation of funds among crossings to achieve maximum crossing safety benefits for a given level of funding. The procedure consists of two parts. The first is an accident prediction formula which computes the expected number of accidents at each crossing. The second part is a resource allocation model designed to nominate crossings for improvement consideration on a cost-effective basis and to suggest the type of warning device to be installed.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Systems Center

  55 Broadway, Kendall Square
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142

  Federal Railroad Administration

  Office of Safety, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Research, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Coulombre, R
  • Poage, J
  • Farr, E
  • Hitz, J
• Publication Date: 1982-9

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 29 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost allocation; Cost effectiveness; Crashes; Forecasting; Mathematical models; Railroad grade crossings; Resource allocation; Risk analysis; Safety equipment; States; Traffic safety; Warning systems
• Old TRIS Terms: Allocations
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Public Transportation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00365739
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-TSC-FRA-82-1 Final Rpt., HS-034 928
• Files: HSL, NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 31 1983 12:00AM