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            Applying a Sociotechnical Framework for Improving Safety at Highway-Railroad Grade Crossings.
      

      
  Document Series
              Conference & Workshop


      
  Author
          Yeh, M., Multer, J.


      
Location
              Baltimore, MDUnited States

  Conference Name
              In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 51st Annual Meeting


      Subject
                    Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning Systems,
                    Highway-Rail Grade Crossings,
                    Human Factors


      

      

      
      
              
                  
      
              
  Document
              HWY-RR.pdf (49.9 KB)

      
              To understand drivers’ decisions and actions at grade crossings, we examined human factors contributing to noncompliance at grade crossings using a sociotechnical framework. This perspective allows driver behavior at grade crossings to be examined not as individual elements but rather as a function of how each element interacts with other elements within the system. In this paper, we present a model that addresses driver decision-making at grade crossings at a systems level. We identify and describe four elements of the grade crossing system influencing driver compliance: the design of the grade crossing environment, driver characteristics, the role of organizations and management, and social and political forces. We then apply the model to identify how failure to consider safety from a systems perspective contributed to the grade crossing accident that occurred in Fox River Grove, Illinois, in 1995.
      
            
      
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