Potential of auxiliary strobe lights on train locomotives to improve level crossing safety

Inattentiveness of road users on approach to passive railway crossings represents a major threat to level crossing safety. An auxiliary strobe light system installed on trains in addition to existing headlights may help address this issue by providing an ergonomic way of attracting human attention to the level crossing and to the train. The objective of this paper was to investigate the ergonomics and safety potential of auxiliary strobe light systems. A system was implemented on a real railway vehicle and in the virtual environment of a driving simulator. Acceptance of the system, including its usefulness and perceived benefits and drawbacks, as well as its objective effectiveness, were evaluated using questionnaires, behavioural measures, and eye tracking. The safety potential of the system was evaluated with respect to fatal level crossing accidents. The auxiliary strobe lights were preferred over normal lights and were rated as useful, reducing driving speeds, increasing visual scanning at level crossings, and thus aiding detection of a train. The system has the potential to prevent 6–30% of level crossing accidents in Europe. The results suggest that it might be worthwhile to test auxiliary strobe lights in a larger scale real-world experiment. Especially on railway lines with a high number of passive level crossings, this system can be expected to increase safety by supporting timely detection by road users and preventing accidents caused by inattentiveness

Auxiliary strobe lights improve train visibility

The inattentiveness of road users during their approach towards passive railway crossings represents a major threat for crossing safety. This paper presents an auxiliary strobe light system as a countermeasure to cope with this inattentive behaviour. This system is installed on the front and the sides of the locomotive in addition to the already existing headlights to increase the salience of the train. In order to assess the functionality of the system it was as well installed on a real locomotive as implemented in the virtual environment of a driving simulator to test its effect on the user. This paper presents as well the system that has been developed as the assessment of the technical feasibility. A proof of concept of the auxiliary strobe light system was successfully implemented on a railway vehicle and tested under realistic conditions. Furthermore, the system was virtually implemented in a driving simulator to conduct an empirical study on the effects the system has on drivers that are approaching a passive level crossing. The participants of the study judged the system as highly useful to enhance the detection of the train al the level crossing as well as the overall safety