Crashes at Railway Level Crossings in New South Wales, 1966-1969

486 accidents reported by Police at railway level crossings in New South Wales were studied over a four-year period from 1966 to 1969. The report, produced by the NSW Government, analyzes the distribution of these accidents, including collisions between motor vehicles and rail vehicles or fixed objects, and examines factors like vehicle speed distributions. It aims to appraise the validity of traffic law requirements affecting motorists at level crossings based on research data and field studies.

Use Cases

• Modeling the probability of collisions at level crossings based on the reported Poisson distribution of accidents.
• Analyzing the influence of exposure time on accident risk, as suggested by the differing speed distributions for collision types.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of automatic train-actuated warning devices for crossings with specific sight and speed conditions mentioned in the description.
• Studying driver behavior by comparing vehicle speeds at crossings to speeds on adjacent road sections with similar geometry.

Strengths

• Contains data on 486 specific accidents reported over a defined four-year period (1966-1969).
• Analysis includes a comparison of two distinct speed distributions (normal vs. negative exponential) for different accident types.
• Spatial analysis covers a known population of 2,790 level crossings in New South Wales.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the underlying raw data is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is historical (1966-1969) and may not reflect current conditions.

Provenance

Source

NSW Government

Collection Method

Report based on Police-reported accidents and field studies, including surveys of motor vehicle speeds.

Time Range

1966 to 1969

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-25 16:44:24.059960; freshness should be verified

Geography

New South Wales, Australia