NTL Record

Title Evaluation of Driver Behavior at Railroad-Highway Grade Crossings Using Naturalistic Driving Study Data
Record ID 79144
Personal Name
Creator
Lautala, Pasi Tapio; Jeon, Myounghoon; Nelson, David; Landry, Steven; Dean, Aaron
Corporate Creator Michigan Technological University
Corporate
Contributor
United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Railroad Policy and Development
Publisher United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology; United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
Publication Date 20210203
Language English
Abstract Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) used the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) naturalistic driving study (NDS) data and driver simulator to perform a quantitative evaluation of driver behavior at highway rail grade crossings (HRGCs). We developed a three-point scale to generate driver behavior score for over 9,000 NDS traversals and used the mean scores to perform statistical comparisons of driver behavior at HRGCs with different traffic control devices (TCDs), with/without accident history, and with various environmental conditions. We also simulated two HRGCs in a driver simulator and compared the driver behavior scores between naturalistic and simulated environment. The investigation revealed that most drivers do not visually scan for trains and do not prepare to stop, regardless the type of warning device present at the crossing, or the environmental conditions that prevail at the time of traversal. The results were fairly consistent in both NDS and simulated approaches. The NDS data analysis showed very little statistical difference in driving behavior between any of the TCDs analyzed. The only exceptions were the significantly higher mean scores at passive HRGCs equipped with stop signs and the higher mean scores for traversals that took place during the day versus night time
Rosap ID dot:54627
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/54627
TRT Terms Automatic data collection systems; Behavior; Data analysis; Defensive drivers; Drivers; Driving simulators; Evaluation and assessment; Railroad grade crossings; Traffic control devices; Vehicle miles of travel; Daylight saving time; Annual average daily traffic
General Subjects freight train miles; fatality analysis; reporting system; data normalization; crossbuck
Geographical
Coverage
Michigan; United States
TRIS Online
Accession No
1744996
Contract Number DTRT13-G-UTC52 (Grant 2)
Report Number NURail2016-MTU-R14
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/79000/79100/79144/NURail2016-MTU-R14_Final_Report_TRDP_updated.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository