EVALUATION OF SAFETY AT RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS IN URBAN AREAS

RESEARCH INVESTIGATION WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF THOSE FACTORS WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCE THE ACCIDENT PATTERNS AT URBAN RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS, TO DEVELOP MATHEMATICAL MODELS THAT MEASURE THE RELATIVE SAFETY OR HAZARD OF URBAN GRADE CROSSINGS AND TO ESTABLISH A PRIORITY RATING SYSTEM, BASED ON THE MODELS, FOR DETERMINING PROTECTION IMPROVEMENTS IN URBAN AREAS. DISCRIMINANT AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES WERE USED TO DEVELOP DISCRIMINANT MODELS WITH LINEARLY ASSIGNED PROBABILITIES. THESE MODELS PERMITTED POTENTIAL HAZARD TO BE EXPRESSED AS THE PROBABILITY THAT A GRADE CROSSING IS ACCIDENT PRONE. A GRADE CROSSING WHERE AN ACCIDENT HAD OCCURRED DURING A TWO-YEAR PERIOD WAS CONSIDERED AS A REPRESENTATIVE MEMBER OF THE POPULATION OF ACCIDENT PRONE CROSSINGS. THE BEST DISCRIMINANT MODEL WAS 74 PERCENT SUCCESSFUL IN CLASSIFYING THE TRUE GROUP MEMBERSHIP OF THE SAMPLE GRADE CROSSINGS. THE MODEL EXPRESSED POTENTIAL HAZARD AS A FUNCTION OF PROTECTIVE DEVICE, AVERAGE DAILY HIGHWAY TRAFFIC, AVERAGE DAILY TRAIN TRAFFIC, DEGREE OF EFFECTIVE SIGHT DISTANCE, AND ROADSIDE DISTRACTIONS. A METHODOLOGY WAS DEVELOPED FOR SELECTING A MINIMUM LEVEL OF GRADE CROSSING PROTECTION AND ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PROTECTION AT URBAN RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 16, 90 PP, 12 FIG, 11 TAB, 4 APP
• Corporate Authors:

  Purdue University/Indiana Department of Transportation JHRP

  Purdue University, School of Civil Engineering
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907-1284
• Authors:
  • Berg, W D
• Publication Date: 1966-9

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Average daily traffic; Discriminant analysis; Hazards; Improvements; Mathematical models; Probability theory; Protection; Railroad grade crossings; Ratings; Regression analysis; Safety; Sight distance; Urban areas
• Old TRIS Terms: Accident prone; Discriminate analysis
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219910
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 9 1994 12:00AM