An observational study on pedestrian and bicyclist violations at railroad grade crossings: Exploring the impact of geometrical and operational attributes

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2023

Subject Area

mode - bike, mode - pedestrian, mode - rail, infrastructure - track, ridership - behaviour, planning - personal safety/crime

Keywords

Train, railroad grade crossing, pedestrian, bicyclist

Abstract

Introduction: In order to enhance the existing body of research regarding the prevalence of violations committed by pedestrians and bicyclists, this observational study utilized personal-specific, train-specific, operational, and behavioral data extracted from recorded videos at seven railroad grade crossings (RRGCs). Method: A total of 7,332 pedestrians and 1,684 bicyclist crossing events were observed during 279 gate operation phases at seven study locations. First, two separate violation models (binary logit) for pedestrians and bicyclists were developed to determine the influence of personal-specific characteristics and other behavioral traits on probability of pedestrians’ and bicyclists’ violation. Later, the impact of various geometrical (railway track, distance between gates, distance between gate and nearest track, and road width) and operational (train vehicle unit) parameters on the factors that caused non-motorist violations was examined by developing distinct binary logit models. Results: The probability of pedestrians’ and bicyclists’ violation was found to be significantly influenced by train characteristics (train speed and train occupancy time), gate operational attributes (warning time and gate blockage duration), and personal-specific characteristics (gender, age, crossing speed, and looking both side). Furthermore, geometrical attributes along with train vehicle unit were observed to have impact over various factors that significantly influenced the behavior of pedestrians and bicyclists to violate. Practical Applications: The findings of this research provide essential information that could be applied in the initiatives of user awareness and enforcement program, emphasis on situational awareness and design of operational and geometrical elements to significantly limit the effects of risky walking and bicycling behavior at RRGCs.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Journal of Safety Research Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00224375

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