| Title | Review of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Incidents 1986 – 2015: Trends and Potential Safety Gaps |
|---|---|
| Record ID | 67516 |
| Personal Name Creator |
Gabree, Scott H.; Calabrese, Clark; Young, Jared; Mejia, Bianka; Prescott, Josh |
| Corporate Creator | John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) |
| Corporate Contributor |
United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology; United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Policy |
| Publisher | United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Railroad Policy and Development |
| Publication Date | 20190800 |
| Language | English |
| Abstract | Every year in the U.S., hundreds of individuals lose their lives at highway-rail grade crossings and even more are injured or otherwise involved in an incident at a crossing. Today’s crossing incident rates, however, are significantly lower than they were years ago. This report collected and analyzed 30 years of incidents at public, at-grade, highway-rail crossings as well as the inventory of crossings during that time. Between 1986 and 2015, the number of open, public, at-grade crossings in the country has decreased by over 60,000, and the proportion of these crossings which use active warning devices rose from 34 percent to 55 percent. These changes in the crossing inventory, at least in part, helped to achieve large improvements in safety, including a reduction in the number of incidents at crossings with a casualty by over 60 percent. However, despite these safety improvements, fatal incidents involving pedestrians at crossings are increasing. In fact, the linear models developed in this paper predict that given historic trends, by 2019 pedestrians will overtake vehicles as the road user with the most fatalities. These findings suggest that it may be worth investigating why pedestrians have not benefited from the general safety advancements achieved at crossings. |
| Rosap ID | dot:42188 |
| Rosap URL | https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/42188 |
| TRT Terms | Grade crossing surfaces; Railroad grade crossings; Grade crossing protection systems; Transportation safety; Railroad safety; Safety; Pedestrians; Pedestrian safety; Highway vehicle operators |
| General Subjects | Crossing; grade crossing; safety; pedestrian; vehicle; gates |
| Geographical Coverage |
United States |
| Contract Number | RR04A7 QLF23 |
| Report Number | DOT/FRA/ORD-19/30 |
| Resource type | Tech Report |
| URL | https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/67000/67500/67516/DOT-FRA-ORD-19-30_20190819.pdf |
| Format | |
| Database | NTL Digital Repository |