Innovative Grade Crossing Safety Measures for the San Joaquin Rail Corridor
Contact
Bradley Mizuno
Email: bradley_mizuno@dot.ca.gov
Task Description
The project will use a series of integrated studies aimed at understanding the factors underlying grade crossing crashes, and of examining potential solutions.
This project will apply PATH (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways) technologies and skills to enhance the safety of the San Joaquin Intercity Rail Corridor. This proposal describes an integrated series of studies aimed at understanding the factors underlying grade crossing crashes, and of examining potential solutions.
Task Objective
The project is going to be a three-pronged and systematic approach, designed to:
- Assess the efficacy and usability of unmodulated and later, modulated LED signal, at grade crossings. We will first perform controlled laboratory studies, then we will extend our work to a naturalistic field setting.
- Determine the best means of mounting, recording and archiving train-mounted video data. Perform an initial installation on an Amtrak locomotive, the acquire and analyze an initial set of data. From this data, determine parameters to be derived to root out the drivers' motivations at grade crossing. Provide a first-iteration data reduction to distill these important parameters into preliminary conclusions.
- Examine the overall problem along the corridor and identify the best candidate system. Our methodology will be to first understand the nature of violations then deduce causes (from the two tasks above) We will then examine violation statistics and use a systematic method to determine which grade crossings are best candidates for upgraded installations, along with an estimate of the benefits accrued
Final Report/Deliverables
Report is currently unavailable.