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Friday 16 Jan 2009

LEVEL CROSSING ‘RISK-RUNNERS’ TARGETTED IN CAMPAIGN

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Motorists and pedestrians alike who put lives in danger by flouting traffic laws at level crossings are being targeted in a new information campaign by Network Rail.

Taking a random week towards the end of November, the crossings at Birkdale, Ainsdale and Freshfield were monitored between 7am and 7pm each day – and Network Rail was staggered at the amount of misuse it found.

At Birkdale, 133 vehicles and 83 pedestrians were involved in what could be described as 'near misses'. At Ainsdale it was 144 and 114, and 62 and 68 respectively at Freshfield

“This is simply not acceptable” said Simon Whitehorn, area manager Merseyside for Network Rail. “On each occasion, the controller had to stop the barriers from coming down further simply to avoid an accident.

“We get cars, lorries and buses trying to beat the barriers; pedestrians ducking under them as they come down and running across the crossing or jumping over the barriers once they are lowered. It is only a matter of time before we have a serious incident on our hands.”

There are four trains an hour in each direction on the Northern line, travelling at up to 60mph. Consequently, the level crossing barriers can seem to be closed to road users for a long time. In reality, it would normally only be a couple of minutes on each occasion, but human nature being what it is, people get impatient and take risks.

Chief Inspector Sue Peters, of British Transport Police, said: “We fully support Network Rail’s campaign on this important safety issue.

“We are working together with the relevant agencies this month to provide high visibility patrols and raise awareness at key level crossings and following this up with some direct action and enforcement around criminal offences for those who don’t comply with the law.”

She added: “I believe education and awareness are the way forward here and my advice is to stay safe and comply with the level crossing instructions.“

Local care and residential homes will be visited as part of the campaign because the elderly can become confused about what they should do when they hear the warning siren start. They sometimes panic and are unsure whether to cross or not.

Nationally there are about 7,600 level crossings and in 2008, 13 people were killed on them as a result of accidents between road vehicles and trains.

Such incidents pose a bigger risk to railway safety than anything else, which is why Network Rail re-launched its national TV and radio adverts towards the end of last year and is following them up with localised campaigns.