Engineers and transportation safety experts around the world are working to reduce the dangers of grade-level rail crossings like the one in Valhalla, N.Y., that was the scene of a deadly accident Tuesday evening. But human behavior and the laws of physics can defeat even the safest system, researchers say.
Efforts to improve safety generally fall into three areas: keeping vehicles off the tracks; alerting drivers when a train is approaching; and, as a last resort, signaling a train operator that a vehicle is on the tracks so that the train can be slowed or stopped.
“Almost all of these accidents happen because a highway user is encroaching on railroad property,” said Aemal Khattak, an associate professor of transportation engineering at the University of Nebraska. “Anything we can do to avoid having the users on those tracks obviously helps.”
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These systems would depend on the same technology that is being used to develop driverless cars — sensors and communication equipment on each car that could detect when it is near a crossing, and receive a signal that a train is approaching.
“The technology is there,” Mr. Lautala said. “But the implementation is another matter.”
A version of this article appears in print on February 6, 2015, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Human Behavior and Physics Hamper Rail Safety Systems. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
