Google has agreed to partner with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on grade crossing safety, the agency announced on June 29, 2015.
Google will use the FRA’s GIS data that pinpoints nearly every rail crossing in the country (approximately 250,000) so the tech giant can add audio-visual alerts of an upcoming rail crossing when a driver uses the turn-by-turn navigation feature. FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg has also asked four other major companies that develop map applications—Apple, MapQuest, Garmin and Tom Tom—to partner with the agency.
The FRA says that last year approximately 270 people died in highway-rail collisions, compared to 232 in 2013—up 16.4%. 94% of accidents at rail crossings are due to driver inattention and error, FRA adds.
When Feinberg came on board in January, a spate of rail crossing deaths and accidents occurred, “so she decided to take a fresh look at the problem and followed up swiftly with action,” FRA said. “Feinberg focused more resources toward rail crossing safety to raise awareness, increase enforcement and invest in smarter engineering. Working with these tech companies is part of the smarter engineering effort to help educate drivers. Feinberg is also leveraging her experience as a former Facebook executive and her relationships in Silicon Valley to bring one of the nation’s newest industries together with government to solve one of the nation’s oldest problems and to prevent, and ultimately end, deaths and accidents at rail crossings.”