A comparison of alternative symbolic warning signs for railway level crossings

Abstract

Most level crossings have light traffic and good accident records and the only protection that can be justified in cost benefit terms is a system of warning signs. The Australian standard specifies a warning sign using the "cross bucks" symbol which might not be correctly interpreted and might also be confused with the crossroads warning sign. Wigglesworth, in a review of level crossing protection for the Ministry of Transport, Victoria, recommended the adoption of a train symbol. The UN protocol symbol is a steam train but steam trains are no longer used on scheduled railway services. However, a diesel train symbol does not have distinctive features easily adaptable to symbolic representation and such a symbol might not have an adequate legibility distance. This paper compares the two Australian standard railway warning signs, a steam train symbol and two diesel train symbols. The criteria for evaluation are interpretability and legibility distance. Consideration is also given to what are the community stereotypes for a railway warning sign. It is concluded that the steam train symbol remains a community stereotype despite the rarity of steam trains; is likely to be correctly interpreted and has a long legibility distance. (Author/TRRL)