This is the final report for this project which examined grade crossing safety and human factors through focus groups, a telephone survey, a literature review and, in this report, an analysis based chiefly on a new approach stated by Neil Lemer [1]. Lemer noted that drivers should not be treated as reckless, inattentive speeders. Instead they should be thought of as decision makers who are using information of limited quantity and quality against a background of knowledge shaped primarily by the experience that trains are only very rarely at grade crossings when the driver is also at the grade crossing. We found no evidence that additional education programs or public awareness campaigns had any lasting effect on the frequency of grade crossing accidents. We found no evidence suggesting that bigger or brighter or other modifications of traditional signs or signals led to favourable changes in drivers' behaviours at grade crossings. We concluded that using available sensor-processor-message display technology, configured in a way to promote improved driver decision making, offers the potential for grade crossing accident reduction. Our recommendation is to support additional research to investigate this potential for grade crossing accident reduction implicit in or conclusion. (Author/publisher)
Abstract