In an effort to prevent railroad crossing accidents, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has partnered with Google to warn drivers when they are approaching a junction. Every railroad crossing in the country will be visible in Google Maps, and the application will make two audio and visual notifications when the car is approaching a crossroads, according to a report in The New York Times
At this time, no dates of when the function appears in the application. The hope is that drivers will be more careful when Cruzen railroad crossings. About 94% of accidents at crossings is due to driver inattention and error, the FRA said. One of the main causes of accidents is drivers trying to beat the train to the crossing and miscalculating the amount of time they have.
The agency is also working with Apple and other manufacturers of mobile maps to ensure that the safety function is widely adopted, said the FRA. But those agreements have not been finalized, and Apple has not responded to requests for comment.
The FRA is trying to take advantage of the common driving behavior, such as getting directions via a smartphone, to increase security. Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation, which oversees the FRA has also developed its own application with all this railroad crossing. But the application does not reach nearly as many people as integrated into Google Maps and other applications that would data.
The number of accidents at railway crossings was in 2000 in a year as recently as 2012, a tremendous drop compared with about 12,000 accidents a year recorded in the 1970s but that number was slightly higher in the last three years. In 2014, there were about 2,300 accidents, according to the FRA.
Efforts to make safer railroad crossings have come after a spate of fatal accidents in the last year, although not all of them involved collisions. In February, a Metro North train in the area of the City of New York reached an SUV and killed six people. The organization said that 270 people died in collisions at crossings of the railway in 2014, compared with 234 the previous year.
At this time, no dates of when the function appears in the application. The hope is that drivers will be more careful when Cruzen railroad crossings. About 94% of accidents at crossings is due to driver inattention and error, the FRA said. One of the main causes of accidents is drivers trying to beat the train to the crossing and miscalculating the amount of time they have.
The agency is also working with Apple and other manufacturers of mobile maps to ensure that the safety function is widely adopted, said the FRA. But those agreements have not been finalized, and Apple has not responded to requests for comment.
The FRA is trying to take advantage of the common driving behavior, such as getting directions via a smartphone, to increase security. Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation, which oversees the FRA has also developed its own application with all this railroad crossing. But the application does not reach nearly as many people as integrated into Google Maps and other applications that would data.
The number of accidents at railway crossings was in 2000 in a year as recently as 2012, a tremendous drop compared with about 12,000 accidents a year recorded in the 1970s but that number was slightly higher in the last three years. In 2014, there were about 2,300 accidents, according to the FRA.
Efforts to make safer railroad crossings have come after a spate of fatal accidents in the last year, although not all of them involved collisions. In February, a Metro North train in the area of the City of New York reached an SUV and killed six people. The organization said that 270 people died in collisions at crossings of the railway in 2014, compared with 234 the previous year.
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