AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS RELATED TO RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS-A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF TOPOGRAPHY AND A COMPUTER-GRAPHICS DISPLAY OR TRAFFIC FLOW

THE RESULTS ARE SUMMARIZED OF A THREE MONTH RESEARCH STUDY RELATED TO AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS IN THE VICINITY OF RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS. THE RESEARCH ACTIVITY WAS CONFINED TO THREE AREAS: (1) FIELD MEASUREMENT OF TOPOGRAPHIC DATA AT APPROXIMATELY 100 GRADE CROSSINGS, (2) DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUXILIARY COMPUTER-GRAPHICS DISPLAY FOR A BPR SIMULATION OF VEHICLE DYNAMICS, (3) THE TASK OF ANALYTICALLY EVALUATING TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES TO HAZARDOUS LOSSES OF VEHICLE CONTROL. THE FIELD MEASUREMENT OF RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS WERE MADE TO PROVIDE DATA FOR COMPUTER SIMULATION OF THE DYNAMICS OF AUTOMOBILES TRAVERSING RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS AND PROVIDE AN INVENTORY OF TYPICAL TYPES OF RURAL RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS. THE RAILROAD CROSSINGS SELECTED HAD TRAFFIC SPEEDS OF 40 MPH OR GREATER AND INCLUDED ONLY TWO-LANE ROADWAYS. TWELVE OF THE 100 CROSSINGS INCLUDED IN THE INVENTORY HAD OVER TWO SETS OF TRACKS. THE DIGITAL COMPUTER ROUTINE WAS DEVELOPED WITHIN A PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED FORTRAN IV LANGUAGE PROGRAM FOR DISPLAYING THE SIMULATED TRAFFIC FLOW OF HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND A TRAIN IN THE VICINITY OF A RAILROAD CROSSING. THE COMPUTER GRAPHICS DISPLAY IS CAPABLE OF DESCRIBING THE TIME MOTIONS OF UP TO 200 HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND/OR A TRAIN AND THE ACTIONS OF UP TO 10 HIGHWAY SIGNALS & CROSSING GATES. AS AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF OUTPUT, STILL PICTURES MAY ALSO BE PRODUCED THROUGH THE USE OF DIGITAL PLOTTERS. AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH NINE CONCLUSIONS ARE PRESENTED. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTOR OF LOSS OF CONTROL AT RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS OCCURRED AT CROSSINGS AT THE CREST OF A VERTICAL CURVE. THIS CAUSE RESULTED FROM THE APPLICATION OF EXCESSIVE STEER CONTROL INPUTS WHILE THE FRONT WHEELS ARE EITHER LIGHTLY LOADED OR OUT OF CONTACT WITH THE TERRAIN SURFACE. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vj-2251-v-4, CPR-11-3988, 3512-022
• Corporate Authors:

  Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Incorporated

  4455 Genesee Street
  Buffalo, NY  United States  14221

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Delays, N J
  • MCHENRY, R R
  • Anderson, T E
  • Mudrowsky, E F
  • THARP, K J
  • Theiss, C M
• Publication Date: 1969-3

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Control; Curves (Geometry); Digital computers; Field tests; Graphics; Information processing; Railroad grade crossings; Steering; Topography; Traffic crashes; Traffic simulation; Traffic speed; Vehicle dynamics
• Identifier Terms: FORTRAN (Computer program language)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Field measurements; Motor vehicle accidents; Vertical curvature
• Old TRIS Terms: Graphic methods
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224908
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 22 1994 12:00AM