Citation

Hitz JS. Transp. Res. Rec. 1984; 956: 5-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The development of formulas to predict the severity of accidents at public rail-highway crossings is described. The formulas make use of the previously developed DOT Accident Prediction Formula, the U.S. DOT-AAR National Rail-Highway Crossing Inventory, and the FRA accident files. When these new formulas are used in the DOT Resource Allocation Procedure, information will be available to assist in making better decisions about where to install motorist-warning devices to further increase crossing safety for a given level of funding. Established statistical techniques were used to develop two formulas: one that estimates the number of fatal accidents per year at a crossing and one that estimates the number of injury accidents per year at a crossing. It was found that the factors in the inventory that significantly influence fatal accident severity, given that an accident occurred, were maximum timetable train speed, the number of through trains per day, the number of switch trains per day, and urban or rural location. For injury accident severity, given that an accident occurred, the significant factors were maximum timetable train speed, the number of tracks, and urban or rural location. The performance of these severity formulas is discussed and calculated results are presented.

Language: en

Keywords

RAILROAD PLANT AND STRUCTURES; STATISTICAL METHODS - Applications; HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS - Evaluation