Gate Violations by Truck Drivers at Highway‐Rail Grade Crossings

摘要

The objective of this research was to empirically investigate truck drivers' gate violations atdual‐quadrant gated highway‐rail grade crossings (HRGCs). The issue of collisions betweentrucks and trains is important because of the relatively high severity of such crashes and safetyand environmental concerns arising from possible spillage of hazardous materials.The adopted methodology consisted of collecting data on gate violations by truckdrivers during train crossing events at two HRGCs and statistically analyzing the dataset. About22% of the collected observations involved gate violations by truck drivers. Analysis resultsshowed that the frequencies of gate violations increased with higher truck traffic arriving duringcrossing events. Drivers of single‐unit trucks displayed a greater propensity for gate violationscompared to drivers of trucks with trailers. Violations were more frequent with longer timesbetween the onset of flashing lights and train arrivals at the crossings. Results also showed thatnighttime was associated with higher frequency of gate violations by truck drivers. Implicationsof the findings, practical options for reducing truck drivers' gate violations at HRGCs, andrecommendations for future research are provided.