Richfield, Veronica

MnDOTs Rail Administration Section monitors the safety performance of more than 4,000 public rail grade crossings and develops the Departments Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Safety Improvement Program. A total of 445 vehicle-train crashes occurred at the public crossings during the 10-year study period, extending from 2004 through 2013. Of these crashes, 52 involved fatalities and another 129 involved injuries. Analysis of the crash data reveals two key points; the density of fatal plus injury crashes is very low - 0.004 per grade crossing per year and almost 91 percent of the crossings had NO crashes of any kind during the study period. This data combined with the fact that Rail Administration staff used a pair of crash prediction models that included consideration of crash history (along with crossing geometry and train/vehicle exposure factors) to identify candidates for safety investment raised concern among MnDOT staff regarding whether or not the models placed too high a priority on prior crash history. This set of facts resulted in undertaking a study to determine how well the prediction models fit Minnesotas data and to attempt to identify a set of grade crossing risk factors that would support a statewide systemic evaluation. The study determined that both the FRA Accident Prediction Model and the Texas Hazard Index were poor fits with Minnesotas crash data. The study also identified a set of volume, speed, design and surrounding area features that were over-represented at crossings with crashes and that the crossings with multiples of these features present had the highest crash densities and could be considered high priority candidates for safety investment.

This report presents a study of the impact lane markings and signing have on driving behavior at a two-lane roundabout located in Richfield, Minnesota. After its completion in 2008, this roundabout sustained a suspiciously high amount of crashes. In response, through this study, engineers experimented with changes in the roundabout's signs and lane markings, as roundabout design regulations are relatively lax and nonspecific in contrast to those for standard signalized intersections. An observational study was conducted that reduced 216 hours of before and after video records of the roundabout into a database of all the violations committed by drivers. Along with the observational data, crash records were analyzed and demonstrated that improper turns and failing to properly yield account for the majority of collisions. The changes implemented in the approaches to the roundabout and specifically the extension of the solid line seems to have reinforced the message to the drivers that they must select the correct lane before approaching the roundabout entrance. Although choosing the correct lane does not directly address yielding violations, it does reduce the occurrence of drivers conducting an improper turn and to some extent reduces the need for a driver to change lanes within the roundabout. The implemented changes produced a 48% reduction in normalized occurrences of improper turns, and a 53% reduction in normalized occurrences of drivers choosing the incorrect lane a month after the changes, while a year later, these reductions were 44% and 50%, respectively.

Many cities in the United States are installing roundabouts instead of traditional intersections, due to evidence that roundabouts dramatically reduce fatal and severe injury crashes compared to traditional signalized intersections. However, the impact on pedestrian safety is not clear. This project was developed to investigate pedestrian accessibility in Minnesota urban roundabouts, addressing complaints from pedestrians regarding difficulties in crossing and safety. The methodology followed in this ongoing research is typical of other observational studies. A sufficiently large number of observations on the interactions between pedestrians or bicycles (peds/bikes) and vehicles at two modern urban roundabouts in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota were collected and reduced. These observations have supported a two phased analysis. Phase 1 involved the extraction of general information describing the crossing event, such as who yielded, the location of the crossing, or the number of subjects involved. Phase 2 looked deeper into these factors by considering the conditions inside the roundabout before the vehicle proceeds to the crossing and meets with the ped/bike. The results presented, although containing no surprises, do highlight and categorize the existence of friction between pedestrians and drivers at roundabout crossings. Also the identification of factors affecting driver yield behavior and pedestrian wait time do offer good background for modeling such interactions.