The Role of Human Error in Accidents on German Half-Barrier Level Crossings

Abstract

The work at hand presents the results of an analysis of 51 accidents at German level crossings regarding human error contribution on the part of road traffic users. The results indicate that a half-barrier protection does not provide a strong enough barrier effect to prevent accidents. It is shown that overall 41% of all accidents in the sample happened at such half-barrier level crossings, thus making up for the second largest share following light signal system layouts. Accidents at full-barrier protected level crossings and level crossings without technical protection in the sample are negligible. The findings from the investigation of human error types leading to accidents at half-barrier level crossings are of particular interest. Using the GIDAS framework for human error categorisation in the automotive domain, they reveal that 73% of errors occur in the planning stage of human information processing. Violations of rules like deliberately bypassing closed barriers are most prevalent. Countermeasures to minimise the occurrence of such accidents at half-barrier level crossings are discussed.