Australian Study finds drivers underestimate train speeds

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afigg

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Joined
Jun 8, 2009
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There is news about Australian study that found that many drivers significantly underestimate the speed of an approaching train at a grade crossing. I don't think this finding is much of a surprise given how common grade crossing collisions are in the US caused by drivers trying to "beat" the train. Sometimes it is the last decision the driver will ever make. Comes down to that most people are poor at estimating the speed of a large moving object, be it a train or aircraft.

Railway Age: Australian study finds drivers underestimate speed of approaching trains. An excerpt:

"At the upper end of the sighting distances proposed (750 to 1,500 meters [.46-.93 miles]), industry has raised concern around whether a driver would be able to reliably identify a train and assess its rate of approach in order to make an informed decision regarding whether it would be safe to proceed across the level crossing," he said.

As part of the study, Dr. Larue tested 36 drivers at a site in Victoria to determine the distance they could clearly see and identify a train approaching and their accuracy in calculating the train's speed.

"What we found was that most drivers could see the train from a very long distance, with 85% identifying a train further than 1,450 meters (.9 miles)," he said. "Drivers were also able to identify the train as moving on average at a distance of 1,298 meters (.8 miles) away.

"However, drivers' estimates of train speeds were very poor and up to 44% under the actual train speed.

"At 1,100 meters (.68 miles) away drivers' speed estimate was on average 44% lower than the actual train speed, so despite travelling at 130 kph (80 mph) drivers thought the train was travelling at 75 kph (46 mph).
Click to expand...
 
I don't think the average person here in the US understand how fast trains go, particularly when on a section of track allowing max speed.

By the same token, people if people when driving their car are not allowed to see their speedometer they also grossly underestimate their speed.
 

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