“It’s pathological” : exploring gaps in the whole-systems approach for managing operations and safety risk at a fully automatic rail level crossing

There are 23,500 level crossings in Australia. In these risky environments, it is important to understand what human factor issues are present and how road users and pedestrians engage with crossings. Onsite observations were performed over a 2-day period at a 3-track active crossing. This was followed by 52 interviews with level crossing users. Over 700 separate violations were recorded, with representations in multiple categories (e.g. going through flashing lights >2s after starting flashing; stopping on crossing). Time stamping revealed that the crossing was active for 59% of the time in some morning periods and trains could take up to 4-min to arrive following first activation. Users experienced frustration due to delays caused by the frequency of trains, which increased likelihood of risk-taking. Analysis of interview data identified themes associated with congestion, safety, and violations. This work offers insight into context specific issues associated with active level crossing protection.