Abstract
Safety at highway rail grade crossings (HRCs) continues to be a serious concern despite improved safety practices. Accident frequencies remain high despite increasing emphasis on HRCs safety. Consequently, there is a need to re-examine both the design practices and the safety evaluation methods at HRCs. Previous studies developed accident prediction models by incorporating highway, crossing inventory, rail, and vehicle traffic characteristics, but none of these factors considered population in the vicinity of HRCs. This study developed a binary logit regression model to predict accident likelihood at HRCs by incorporating various contributory factors in addition to population (based on census blocks 2010) within five miles of crossings. Previous North Dakota accident data from 2000 to 2016 was analyzed and used in the model development. The model results show that the number of daily trains, the maximum typical train speed, the number of through railroad tracks, and the number of highway/traffic lanes all affect accident likelihood. The presence of pavement markings in the form of stop lines helps reduce accident probability, while populations within five miles of HRCs have a positive relationship with crash likelihood. This study will help transportation agencies improve HRC safety.
Highlights
North Dakota (ND) has observed a significant decrease in the frequency of highway rail grade crossing (HRC) accidents over the past few decades
One-mile and five-mile buffers were created around each HRC using ArcMap 10.4
The explanatory variables which were tested at different significance levels and became insignificant included annual average daily traffic (AADT), functional classification of highway (HWYCLASSCD), highway pavement (HWYPVD), smallest crossing angle (XANGLE), crossbucks (CROSBUK), stop signs (STOP), flashing lights (FLASHLGT), and gates (GATES)
Summary
North Dakota (ND) has observed a significant decrease in the frequency of highway rail grade crossing (HRC) accidents over the past few decades. Numerous efforts have been undertaken to improve safety at these HRCs, including improvements under the Federal Highway Administration’s railway-highway crossings program (Section 130) and including HRCs on an annual list of proposed highway safety improvements by the ND Department of Transportation [2,3]. Administration (FRA) includes reducing HRC incidents through multiple dedicated programs such as the Risk Reduction Program [4] and the Railroad Safety Management Program [5]. These efforts reduced ND HRC accidents up to 82% between 1975 and 2016, as can be seen in Figure 1 [6]
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