Field Evaluation of a Wayside Horn at a Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing

摘要

The current study represents one of several efforts by the Federal Railroad211u001eAdministration to evaluate the effectiveness of auditory warnings designed to 211u001epromote awareness of approaching trains. A stationary horn (or wayside horn) 211u001elocated at the grade crossing was evaluated to learn whether it would reduce 211u001ecommunity noise impact without adversely affecting motorist safety, compared to a 211u001etrain horn. This report documents the results of two surveys comparing the 211u001ecommunity noise impact of a wayside horn to a train horn and an analysis of 211u001emotorist behavior at the grade crossing. Acoustic data were also collected to 211u001edescribe the sound characteristics of each warning signal. The wayside horn 211u001etested was considerably less annoying to the community than the train horn. The 211u001elower sound level of the wayside horn compared to the train horn was a 211u001esignificant factor in explaining why it was perceived as less annoying than the 211u001etrain horn. In the safety evaluation, the wayside horn did not result in behavior 211u001ethat put the driver at increased accident risk compared to the train horn. 211u001eImplementation issues that will impact safety and community noise were also 211u001eidentified. These issues included: activation method, hardware design and 211u001estandardization.