This project developed a low-cost, portable device to provide drivers with explicit feedback about the safety of their behavior at passive highway-railroad grade crossings. Passive grade crossings have no gates, barriers, or lights and are typically located in rural areas with relatively low traffic volumes and relatively low train volumes. At passive grade crossings, drivers are responsible for slowing sufficiently and searching for trains so that they can stop in time if a train is approaching.
The concept in this project was to design an intelligent device that can determine whether drivers are exceeding safe approach speeds, given the sight distance, local train speeds, site geometry, and vehicle characteristics. Because the device would be portable, it could be used at multiple sites, in the same way that speed trailers are used, thus making the cost per site low.
The driver feedback device is an instructive system that is designed to provide realistic, individualized feedback to inform drivers of unsafe behavior at grade crossings. It is intended to influence drivers in a given area even after the portable system has been removed for use elsewhere.
The revised Final Report for this project, addressing comments from committee members’ reviews, was submitted in December 2006. This project is completed.
The final report for this IDEA project can be found at:
https://www.trb.org/studies/idea/finalreports/safety/S-09_Final_Report.pdf.
