Ex-Post Evaluation of an In-Vehicle Warning System for Rail-Road Level Crossings: The Case of Taxi Drivers

摘要

Connected and autonomous mobility are of great interest in transport research. Furthermore, Rail-Road Level Crossings represent high-risk locations of the network and the accidents that take place at them are considered as one of the most significant accident categories that occur at rail infrastructure. Hence, the evaluation of cooperative systems with the aim of increasing safety at Rail-Road Level Crossings is a crucial issue especially towards the evaluation of the system' objectives as well as decision making for investments regarding invehicle warning systems. However, there are many barriers regarding the expost evaluation of these systems such as difficulty in collecting and analyzing quantitative data as well as GPS low accuracy. The present research examines the ex-post evaluation of an in-vehicle warning system for Rail-Road Level Crossings developed within the Horizon 2020 project "SAFER-LC" and tested in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The evaluation made with a questionnaire-based survey which was carried out in August-October 2019. Statistical analysis revealed numerous interesting findings between drivers' socioeconomic attributes and the way they assess the in-vehicle warning system, indicating the high level of acceptance towards the tested driver assistance system, by a demanding professional drivers' group.