MANEUVER - Development of avoidance measures for misconduct on railway crossings with the aid of the traffic psychology
Short Description
Starting point / motivation
Level crossing accidents are not in the public eye because of their frequency, but because of their severity: In 2010, 51 road users were injured and 13 killed in 62 traffic accidents. The risk of a fatal accident on level crossings is 12 times higher than on other roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by misdemeanour of road traffic participants.
Only full barriers can significantly reduce the risk of accidents. Due to the associated high financial and technical costs, there is a need for cost effective alternative solutions that complement the existing level crossing safety systems. Methods used in traffic psychology will help to develop such additional safety measures tailored to the specific level crossing safety system.
Contents and goals
A systematic overview of misdemeanour and its causes (depending on the level crossing safety system) were the basis for the development and evaluation of safety measures in expert panels and focus groups. The result of the project is an Austrian-specific manual with validated measures. In addition, a performance profile for a mobile detection tool is developed to measure misdemeanour on specific level crossings.
Methods
As a first step, an overview of level crossing accidents and their causes with focus on misdemeanour of road traffic participants was worked out. Existing national and international safety measures (education, awareness raising and roadside infrastructure) was taken into account. In an interdisciplinary expert workshop those with the highest potential were identified.
In the next step, misdemeanour and safety measures at level crossings were discussed in focus groups (selected road traffic participants from different regions in Austria). Each focus group dealt with a group of level crossing safety systems, due to the fact that both the behaviour and the activities vary depending on the category of level crossing.
Results of the group discussions led by traffic psychologists were
- a) a causal, Austrian-specific model for misdemeanour at railway crossings and
- b) a compilation of promising safety measures.
The actual potential of the collected measures was determined in simulations with an accident reconstruction programme.
Results and Conclusions
The previous results will be analysed and specified in an additional workshop. Outcome of the project is an Austrian-specific manual of measures focusing on concrete measures with broad applicability along all dimensions of road safety activities (education, awareness raising and roadside infrastructure).
In addition, the findings were incorporated in a performance profile for a mobile behaviour recording tool which can be used to evaluate incorrect level crossings.
Publications
MANEUVER - Development of avoidance measures for misconduct on railway crossings with the aid of the traffic psychology
The objective of the project was to develop cost-effective measures (education, awareness-raising, roadside infrastructure) with the help of experts and road traffic participants to reduce misdemeanour at level crossings. Traffic psychological research methods will be adopted.
Mag. Eva Aigner-Breuss, DI Michael Aleksa, Dr. Eveline Braun, DI Klaus Machata, et al.
Publisher: BMVIT
German, 131 Seiten
Publication Downloads
Project Partners
Project manager
Mag.a Eva Aigner-Breuss, KFV - Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit
Project partners
- DI Dr. Christian Stefan, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
- Dr. Ernst Tomasch, Technische Universität Graz - Institut für Fahrzeugsicherheit (Member of Frank Stronach Institute)
Contact Address
KFV - Board of Trustees for Road Safety
Mag.a Eva Aigner-Breuss
Tel.: +43 (0) 5-77077-1242
E-mail: eva.aigner-breuss@kfv.at