Research

Project Number:
00-11

Research Project:
Investigating the Role of Driver Decision Styles in Highway-Rail Crossing Accidents

P.I. Names & Addresses:
Najmedin Meshkati
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90090
Tel: (213) 740-8765
Fax: (213) 744-1426
Email:meshkati@rcf.usc.edu;

Mansour Rahimi
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0193
Tel:(213) 740-4016
Fax:(213) 740-1120
Email:mrahimi@rcf.usc.edu

Michael J. Driver
Department of Management and Organization
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421
Tel:(213) 740-0757
Fax:(213) 749-0541
Email:mdriver@rcf.usc.edu

Project Objective:
The project has three objectives: a) to investigate the role of motor vehicle driver's decision making behavior in HRC accidents; b) to identify the most important contributing factors in making a decision to cross a railroad track; and c) to conduct an experimental evaluation to identify the effects of drivers' decision style on different patterns of crossing.

Project Abstract:
Railroad crossing accidents pose a very serious safety problem in the United States for all communities.These accidents also plague one of the most efficient means of public transportation in our metropolitan areas -- the light rail system.

We contend that the decision styles of the drivers have a significant impact on the way in which the HRC actions are motivated.Decision styles are the way by which individuals receive, store, process, and transmit information for action.By decision style we mean: (1) the manner in which the driver reacts to a given crossing situation, or (2) the manner of interaction with other elements of the environment.This approach suggests that environmental variables (e.g., time pressures and mental load) affect the complexity of information processing behavior of the driver.In this respect, the decision-making differs among drivers in two key dimensions: amount of information used and number of decisions made.The driver decision style is evaluated by a "paper and pencil" instrument, which has been used by 400,000 individuals.

We will attempt to investigate the match between the driver's decision style, driving task demands, and then determine the fit to the environmental factors of HRC.As can be seen from the attached letters, our approach has received support from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and other agencies.

In order to study the effects of each decision style on the HRC safety factors, we have designed an experimental evaluation methodology, using analysis of variance approach.Moreover, in this study we will perform a thorough analysis of the MTA's extensive and rich databases to generate classes of HRC incidents. These data include violation statistics at 17 crossings since 1995; continuous time-lapse video at the 124th street and Vernon Avenue crossings; results of the telephone survey data, etc.We will also develop a realistic HRC decision making scenarios/case studies; identify important factors in the decision model for each of the scenarios; design the experimental scenarios based on the decision model and actual HRC incident data; administer the decision style instrument the prospective participant drivers and generate data reduction procedure for statistical analysis; analyze the statistical data dependencies using ANOVA and post hoc comparisons; document the findings and make recommendations.

Task Descriptions:

1. Analyze existing data	8/01/00	9/01/00
2. Generate decision scenarios	8/15/00	11/01/00
3. Develop factors in Driver model	10/01/00	12/01/00
4.Design experimental variables	12/01/01	1/01/01
5. Administer Driver's decision style	1/01/01	3/01/01
6. Analyze data (ANOVA/post hoc)	3/01/01	6/01/01
7. Write the final report	7/01/01	7/31/01

Milestones, Dates:
Final report by 7/31/01

Yearly Budget:
$89,061

Total Budget:
$89,061

Student Involvement:
1 Graduate Research Assistant, 12 months @ 50% Effort
2 Undergraduate Students @ 12 Months Effort

Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Project falls in the transit focus area
Like project 00-5, this project focuses on safety issues.

Technology Transfer Activities:
Final report will be posted on the METRANS website and distributed to interested parties.

Potential Benefits of the Project:
Reduced fatalities and injuries at railroad grade crossings.

TRB Keywords:
Railroad safety, Human factors, Transit

Primary Subject:
Behavioral sciences and human performance

Goals:
Safety

Enabling Research:
Human performance and behavior

Modal Orientation:
Transit