SAFER-LC: Level Crossing Design Meets Traffic Psychology

Abstract

Human inattentiveness or risk-taking can easily compromise the safety offered by warning signs and approved safety systems in rail and road traffic. For this reason, level crossings remain one of the major vulnerable spots within the railway system. The degree of safety at level crossings does not solely depend on the level of reliability of technical safety systems. Since the safety standard of technical systems at level crossings is extremely high, the most variable factor and most critical point in the context of the level crossing is road user behavior. Within the joint European research project SAFER-LC, human factors were therefore identified as an important starting point to find and develop effective measures that can enhance safety at level crossings. A huge variety of safety measures has been proposed in the past. Some measures focus on improving the visibility of trains and infrastructural elements, some appeal to road users’ understanding of the situation through informative signs or warnings, others use structural changes in the road surface to induce speed reduction. This article provides an overview of road-user-centered measures proposed in the literature to enhance the safety of traverse at level crossings. A descriptive model of three fundamental steps in human information processing – perception of the level crossing, activation of relevant knowledge and formation of behavioral intention – serves as a framework to systemize and categorize road-user-centered safety measures from the literature. The overview offers a psychological perspective on measures that could be implemented by rail and road infrastructure managers to enhance safety at level crossings.