Questionnaires were completed by 829 licensed drivers or candidates for licenses in an effort to ascertain their level of knowledge concerning highway-rai. lroad grade-crossing information. Questions were asked concarning traffic-control devices, facts relating to grade· crossing hazards, and driver responsibilities at grade crossings. Respondents were stratified by age and elements of training and/or experience. Major findings of the study include the following:(a) Collection of interview data at a driver's-license examining station is an effective method of determining driver knowledge,(b) more than 50 percent of all re· spondents believed that all grade crossings except those rarely used by trains have active warning signals,(c) most drivers have adequate knowledge concern· ing the hazards of grade crossings,(d) most drivers do not know the required driver response at passive grade crossings,(e) drivers perceive little law enforcement related to driver actions at grade crossings, and (f) driver knowledge and/or understanding of the traffic-control devices used to warn of grade crossings is inadequate. Recommendations are made regarding driver knowledge items that should be considered for inclusion in public information campaigns on grade-crossing safety. Future research regarding different advance warning signing for active and passive crossings and enforcement as a countermeasure is also recommended.

When traffic engineers call for traffic-control devices to be erected, it is always with the intent that the driver understand the message conveyed. Enforcement officials must assume that drivers understand their responsibilities. Nowhere are these two assumptions more critical to safety than at the intersection of a roadway with a railroad, hereafter referred to as a grade crossing. Assumptions concerning driver knowledge of grade-crossing information have been investigated by Sanders (1) and Dornrnasch and others (~). Their investigatio~ s included the administration of questionnaires at grade crossings. Due to the need to minimize delay to motorists, the subject areas addressed by these questionnaires were limited. These studies dealt primarily with facts concerning the crossing the driver had just negotiated. This research attempts to infer the level of driver knowledge of gradecrossing information from data obtained in a more controlled environment.