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Job Title - Date
Level crossings in Britain are very safe
…but incidents still occur
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Level crossing signs
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T756 – Signs and signals at level crossings
 Commissioned by RSSB in 2009
 A root and branch review of signing requirements
- Without the influence of previous requirements and constraints,
- What would be most effective in reducing road user errors at level
crossings?
Situation awareness
(Endsley, 1995; Endsley, 2000)
Take in information
through senses
Perception
Use information to
forecast future events
Comprehension
Assign meaning to
information
Page  5
Projection
Situation awareness
An example
I must brake because
the barrier will come
down and a train will
pass through the
crossing.
I expect other traffic to
stop too.
I see a triangular
warning sign and light
signals ahead
Perception
Comprehension
The light signals are
flashing which means
stop
Page  6
Projection
Blocking back
 When vehicle drivers enter the level crossing at a time when the
crossing exit is blocked (eg by queuing traffic)
Page  7
Blocking Back
 The cause of approximately 7% of the risk associated with
vehicles at level crossings
 ‘Never drive onto a crossing until the road is clear on the other
side.’
Page  8
Another train coming
 About 10% of the risk associated with pedestrians at level
crossings
 The primary indications
- signals provided continue to flash red,
- the barriers, if provided, stay down
 Additional measures
- The tone of the audible alarm changes
- A sign
- A signal
Page  9
Another train coming
 Sound 1 – alarm for first train
 Sound 2 – starts immediately as first train passes, to indicate
that another train will pass
Page  10
Research questions
 Does participants’ awareness of the potential for more than one
train to pass through the crossing vary by type of level crossing?
 Do current second train warning signs and sounds affect
awareness of the potential for second trains?
 Are participants aware that they should not enter the level
crossing before the crossing exit is clear?
 Is awareness of blocking back dependent on level crossing type
if a lorry is parked at the level crossing exit?
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Open Crossing
Page  12
Automatic Open Crossing
Page  13
Automatic Half Barrier Crossing
Page  14
Automatic Half Barrier Crossing (Max)
Page  15
Manually Controlled Barrier
Page  16
MCG
Page  17
Another train coming
Page  18
Were any road signs present in the video? If so,
which ones?
Level 1 & 2 situation awareness
Another train coming
 Only shown in one
scenario
 30 presentations in total
 4 recalled its presence
Page  19
Did the level crossing have a barrier?
Level 1 situation awareness
 Generally high awareness
 One participant viewing the AHB Max said there was no barrier
 Three who viewed the AOCL said there was a barrier
Page  20
Barrier position
Level 2&3 situation awareness
 Generally high awareness that where barrier was present, it
was blocking the road
Scenario
Page  21
N
Assumed barrier would rise
AHB
29
27
MCG
30
29
MCB
31
29
AHB Max
29
22
Did the level crossing have light signals?
Level 1 situation awareness
 Generally high awareness
 Four participants viewing the MCG said there were signals (and
a further two were unsure)
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Signal aspect
Level 2&3 situation awareness
 Generally high awareness
 One participant thought steady amber instead of red
 Responses for MCG scenario varied
Scenario
Page  23
N
Assumed wig-wags would change
MCB
30
27
AHB Max
29
26
AHB
29
26
Would you expect another train to pass through the
crossing after the first one?
Level 3 situation awareness *with significant prompting
Expectation
Page  24
Number
Yes, a further train could pass
17
No, a further train could not pass
2
Unsure
11
Blocking back
Page  25
Were any road signs present? If so, which ones?
‘Keep Crossing Clear’ sign
Keep Crossing Clear
Page  26
•
Generally only one or two
participants in each
scenario recalled it (when
it was presented)
•
Almost a quarter recalled
the sign in the Open
Crossing scenario
Were there any other road users in the scene?
Level 1 situation awareness
 Generally high awareness of other road users
 One participant in AHB Max and MCB scenarios said there were
no other road users present
 15 out of 21 drivers in the MCG scenario said there were no
other road users
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Progress through the scene
Level 2&3 situation awareness
AHB
18
18
Number who
saw the lorry
17
AHB Max
19
18
18
3
AOCL
18
18
17
3
MCB
22
21
21
3
MCG
21
15
10
11
OC
22
22
22
6
Scenario
Page  28
Number who saw
other road users
N
Number who
would proceed
3
Discussion
 Participants’ recall of signs was low
- The Open Crossing was the notably different scenario
 Expectation may play an important role in recollection
- Recalling light signals where there werenone
- Recalling barriers where there were none
 Awareness for the potential of more than one train passing
through the crossing was generally low
- Existing measures make a difference (but a very small difference)
Discussion
 In most scenarios, participants were aware of other road users
- MCG scenario produced different results
 Participants mostly said that they would not proceed onto the
crossing
- But almost a quarter of participants said they would
Page  30
Conclusions
 ‘Another train coming’ measures do have an effect
- But only a small effect
 There is some awareness of the need to ‘Keep crossing clear’
- But there is room for improvement
Do You
Have Any
Questions?
Page  32
Thank you
Presented by Dan Basacik
Senior Human Factors Researcher
Email: dbasacik@trl.co.uk
Page  33