Evaluation of Flexible Traffic Separators at Highway–Railroad Grade Crossings

Abstract

Flexible traffic separator systems, widely used to alert motorists to lane restrictions, have been suggested as relatively inexpensive, easily maintainable countermeasures to discourage motorists from driving around the gates at highway–railroad grade crossings. A flexible traffic separator system was installed and evaluated at three crossings in central Florida using a before and after study. The effectiveness of the separators was determined by the number of vehicles driving around the gates, compared with the number of vehicles having a chance to do so. The effect was significant, in that a total of 25 out of 2,194 vehicles drove around the gates before the separator installation, whereas only one out of 1,246 vehicles was involved in this type of violation after the treatment. The presence of the traffic separators was not shown to have a significant effect on crossing actions of approaching motorists when the gates were descending. There was, however, some evidence that drivers were more inclined to enter the crossing when the gates were ascending after the train passage.