Link to Content Area
:::

Institute of Transportation, MOTC

:::
  • small size
  • medium size
  • large size
  • print
  • facebook
  • plurk
  • twitter

Summary of IOT Publications

Title A Study on the Behavior Patterns of Highway Drivers Passing Level Crossings
Dept Transportation Safety Division
Year 2019
Month 12
Price 550
Summary

Safety at level crossings have been a very important issue for the Taiwan Railways Administration over the years. Many studies found that illegal crossing by highway drivers is actually the primary cause behind accidents at level crossings. As a result, studying how best to avoid drivers’ illegal crossing should be the top current focus for improvement.

This study first reviews traffic regulations and safety improvement strategies at level crossings in foreign countries, then analyzes behavior patterns of highway drivers illegally crossing level crossings with many methods, including fault tree technique, incident and accident data, recordings of illegal behavior, questionnaire surveys among general road users, and interviews with illegal crossers.

The results show that the intention to illegally cross stems from risk perception, subjective norms and leveling road cognition, which factors can all be eliminated through education. On the other hand, the coordination between level crossings and highway traffic signals, highway geometric design,vehicle running speed and speed limit, railway warning time variation, railway warning time gap, boom barriers gap and other external factors can be improved by engineering or law enforcement.

On the basis of analysis results, this study proposes 14 prioritized and 13 alternative improvements. Relevant authorities can apply these plans step by step, according to their planning cycles and ways of implementation. This study also suggests developing a checklist or risk model for level crossings, which can be used to survey existing level crossings and make the action plans more practicable.

Post date 2020-01-03
Count Views:483
Top