Institute of Transportation, MOTC

　　With the swift growth of highway traffic and the increase of the train operating density and speed of trains, once an accident happens at a rail-highway grade-crossing, it will cause a train schedule delay or highway congestion, and more seriously, even loss and damage of vehicles and life. This study integrates all the information which was collected from the accidents that have occurred in the past years, according to the different types of grade-crossing (i.e. Type I, Type II, Type III-A, Type III-B and Type IV) and different causes of accidents. Further, a cross-analysis has been made on a variety of causes under different situations and accident types, with the age structure of accident offenders and the types of accident vehicles. Finally, certain suggestions for the operation department, civil engineering department, mechanical engineering department, and electrical engineering department are made regarding rail-highway grade crossing safety issues, improvement strategies and implementation responsibility, in order to improve the rail-highway grade crossing related problems based on the investigation results which were obtained from the railway safety blind-spots scanning analysis. The purpose is to decrease the accident rate and severity, and also to offer some important references about rail-highway grade crossing safety protection for governmental departments.