Conference presentation
Driver behaviour off the rails? Investigating the factors influencing driver behaviour and decision making at railway level crossings
USC Research Conference, 2013 (Sunshine Coast, Australia, 01-Jul-2013–05-Jul-2013)
University of the Sunshine Coast
2013
Abstract
Collisions at Rail Level Crossings (RLX) remain a persistent problem. In Australia during 2000 and 2009 there were 695 collisions between vehicles and trains at RLXs, resulting in 97 fatalities (ITSR, 2011). This presentation describes an ARC Linkage funded program of research that involves the redesign and testing of safer RLX environments. It will focus on the first phase of the research which involved a series of on-road studies exploring the factors shaping driver behaviour and decision making at metro and rural RLXs. Participants (experienced and novice drivers) drove a series of routes in metro and rural environments whilst 'thinking aloud' and took part in cognitive task analysis interviews post drive. The findings revealed important features of driver behaviour and decision making at RLXs, and demonstrated the need for different design solutions for metro and rural environments. For example, the rural study showed that experienced drivers checking behaviours were more expansive, incorporating checks of the railway tracks for trains outside of the roadway and RLX area. Novice drivers, however, showed expectancy for an active warning of the approaching train (e.g. boom gate, flashing light), regardless of whether the RLX actually had warning devices or not, and engaged less in checking for trains as a result. This will be problematic at passive RLXs (which do not provide active warnings) where drivers approach expecting warnings but will not receive them. The metro study findings demonstrated that the problem is entirely different in metro environments. Here drivers' cognitive workload appeared to be greater and there were more aspects of the driving environment that diverted attention from the RLXs (e.g. pedestrians, other traffic, shops, trams). The conclusion from both studies is that rural RLX collisions are predominantly an expectancy problem, whereas metro RLX collisions are predominantly a workload/distraction problem. In closing the presentation will discuss the implications for the RLX design phase of the research program.
Details
- Title
- Driver behaviour off the rails? Investigating the factors influencing driver behaviour and decision making at railway level crossings
- Authors
- Paul M Salmon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
- Conference details
- USC Research Conference, 2013 (Sunshine Coast, Australia, 01-Jul-2013–05-Jul-2013)
- Publisher
- University of the Sunshine Coast
- Date published
- 2013
- Organisation Unit
- Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449066002621
- Output Type
- Conference presentation
Metrics
4 File views/ downloads
412 Record Views