‘Visual clutter’ played a role in motorist’s death at level crossing: TSB

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A woman in her 80s who died after her car was struck by a commuter train at a level crossing in January 2023 might have been the victim of “visual clutter,” a Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigation has found.

“When driving a vehicle, drivers must constantly focus on many elements in their visual field,” the report says. “When many elements are close together, there is the possibility of visual clutter, which requires more scanning to be able to fully assess the situation, a phenomenon that increases with age. This can increase the driver’s reaction time.”

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The collision occurred at a level crossing in St-Bruno-de-Montarville a little before 6 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2023. The victim’s car was struck by an Exo commuter train running from Central Station in Montreal to the Mont-St-Hilaire station.

According to the TSB report, which was made public on Tuesday, the flashing lights on the automatic warning devices at the crossing activated when the train was approximately half a mile from the crossing.

“Three seconds later, although the grade crossing’s flashing lights were activated, the (victim’s) vehicle stopped on the grade crossing, its front end impinging on the rails of the north main track. A few seconds later, the driver of the vehicle tried to reverse, but the crossing gate had lowered behind her, blocking the way. Several stopped motorists sounded their horns to warn the driver.”

A passenger in the vehicle asked the driver to get out of the vehicle. That passenger managed to exit the vehicle seconds before the collision. The driver was fatally injured by the impact.

The investigation found the driver had inadvertently stopped her vehicle on the track.

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“Several light stimuli were in the driver’s near field of vision, including the multiple traffic lights at the intersection, the illuminated decorations on the lampposts, the headlights and position lights of the many other vehicles, and the flashing lights and moving gates of the grade crossing’s automatic warning devices.”

The report notes that before the impact, “the driver’s attention was also drawn to auditory stimuli from the horns of vehicles stopped behind her and the bells of the grade crossing.

“In this occurrence, the combination of visual and audio stimuli is likely to have confused the driver, considerably slowing her reaction time and affecting her decision-making ability.”

The TSB ended its report with a reminder to motorists who stop inadvertently on a level crossing when the automatic warning devices are activated that they must immediately clear the track to avoid a collision.

“Even if the crossing gates are down and block the way, they are designed to detach when struck by a vehicle so that the vehicle can clear the track.”

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