Evaluation of the Buckeye Crossbuck at public, passive railroad/highway grade crossings in Ohio : executive summary.

Details

• Creators:
  Zwahlen, Helmut T. ; Schnell, Thomas
• Corporate Creators:
  Ohio University. Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment. Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory
• Corporate Contributors:
  Ohio. Dept. of Transportation ; Ohio Rail Development Commission ; United States. Department of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Railroad grade crossings
  • Evaluation
  • Highway-railroad grade crossings--Ohio
  • Highway-railroad grade crossings--Ohio--Evaluation
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/OH-2000/021
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Ohio
• Edition:
  Executive summary
• Corporate Publisher:
  Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment. Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory
• Abstract:
  Two new crossbuck designs for use at passive Railroad/Highway Grade Crossings (RRX) were evaluated. ; The Standard Improved and the Buckeye crossbuck were evaluated on a state-wide basis in Ohio with ; respect to their potential to alter driver risk taking behavior (part I), their crash reduction potential (part II), ; user acceptance (part III), and with respect to their photometric performance at night (part IV). It was found ; that the percentage of non-compliant drivers was approximately the same for both crossbuck designs with ; slightly more conservative risk acceptance times obtained for the Buckeye crossbuck. Based on the last 10 ; years of Ohio Railroad/Highway Grade Crossings crash history the overall number of crashes at passive ; Railroad/Highway Grade Crossings has continued to drop. Overall, the crash numbers in part II show a ; statistically significant (α = 0.05) superiority of the Buckeye crossbuck: 157 crashes for Buckeye crossbuck ; vs. 192 crashes for Standard Improved crossbuck (22% decrease in crashes) from 1994 until June 30th, ; 1999. A user acceptance survey indicated an overwhelming preference of the Buckeye Crossbuck among ; all surveyed user groups. The Buckeye Crossbuck provides by far the strongest visual signal among the ; measured crossbucks at night and during daytime. Photometric crossbuck luminance measurements ; conducted under automobile low-beam illumination at night indicate that due to their increased ; reflectorization, both the Buckeye Crossbuck and Standard Improved Crossbuck provide superior visual ; stimuli to an approaching driver at night. The positive effect of the Buckeye Crossbuck on crash numbers is ; more pronounced during daytime than during nighttime. The nighttime and daytime proportions of the ; crash frequencies separately still favor the Buckeye Crossbuck. The multi-faceted, fully reflectorized ; (micro-prismatic type VII, long distance performance LPD) shield makes a Buckeye Crossbuck the ; brightest and visually most powerful crossbuck design evaluated in this study. In addition, the angled shield ; makes the Buckeye Crossbuck less sensitive to placement in approaches that are not straight or ; perpendicular to the railroad tracks, and the red YIELD legend on the shield has the potential to instill into ; drivers, close to the Railroad/ Highway Grade Crossing, the idea that they must yield to approaching trains. ; It is also important to note that, especially at night, both the Standard Improved Crossbuck and the Buckeye ; Crossbuck designs provide an approaching driver with a reflectorized ( bright) target on both sides of the ; tracks, which makes it possible for a driver to determine if a Railroad/ Highway Grade Crossing is ; occupied by a train (left crossbuck either fully or partially obstructed by railroad cars). ; It is recommended to amend the national standard for crossbucks at public passive Railroad/Highway ; Grade Crossings in the MUTCD and to include the Buckeye crossbuck as an alternate design.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  State Job No. 14612(0)
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/17502/dot_17502_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 83.64 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:e40a8ec2dc84d4b050879d22e7721e8b80b6aae238b55cad665fac94f5eda88d