Impact of traffic flow on level crossing risk

This paper considers the assessment of traffic flow as a factor determining risk at level crossings. It builds on theories first introduced by Professor P. F. Stott on the safety of automatic open crossings. Stott proposes that driver behaviour is conditioned less by the level crossing protection, and more by the vehicle ahead. This means that at busy crossings relatively few motorists actually have the opportunity to respond to the crossing equipment, instead reacting to a stopped vehicle ahead that has arrived first at the crossing. The opportunity for a collision with a train may therefore actually decrease at higher traffic flows. These theories are supported by anecdotal evidence of accident patterns at automatic crossings in Great Britain; in recent years some of the more serious train-vehicle collisions have been at automatic crossings with only moderate traffic flows.