Demonstration Of Automated Enforcement Systems At Selected Highway Railroad Grade Crossings In Texas PDF Download

Senate Bill 1512, which was passed into law by the 74th State Legislature in 1995, requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to install and operate automated highway-railroad grade crossing enforcement systems as a demonstration project. Six sites with gates, relatively high traffic and train volumes, and a minimum number of accidents, were selected for the demonstration study. Potential vendors responded to a formal request for proposals to demonstrate their abilities. Because of problems encountered at three sites, automated enforcement equipment was installed and demonstrated at three (rather than six) sites in Texas by two vendors. The equipment at the sites photographed vehicles violating the gate arms. The information was then sent to a processing center either in the form of a film canister or as a data file over a voice-grade phone line. Once at the processing center, the violation was confirmed by a clerk, who then recorded the license plate number of the vehicle and the vehicle's characteristics. After the vehicle owner information was provided by TxDOT's motor vehicle registration department, the vendor took the necessary steps to have an education letter produced. At one site, the vendor mailed the letter, and at the other two sites, the information was provided to the local police department for processing. The project clearly demonstrated that automated enforcement equipment can be used at highway-railroad grade crossings to record violations, identify the license plate and owner of the vehicle, and mail educational materials.