Media centre

Monday 3 Nov 2008

MOTORISTS IN WALES DICING WITH DEATH AT LEVEL CROSSINGS

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Motorists in Wales are risking their lives and those of others according to new figures revealed today by Network Rail. A near-miss occurs every other week, when motorists dice with death by ignoring warning signs and lights or weaving round barriers at level crossings.

There have been 20 near misses from January - September this year, where road vehicles have narrowly avoided a collision with a train in Wales. Shockingly, Britain is on course for a four-year high total unless motorists stop running the risk.

In the same period, there were nearly 300 reported incidents of level crossings misuse across Wales. But these were the only ones recorded - the true figure is much higher. Pedestrians too are running the risks at level crossings, with 15 pedestrians involved in near misses this year.

The warning comes as Network Rail launches a new hard-hitting TV and radio advertising campaign that illustrates in graphic detail the tragic consequences of misusing level crossings by both motorists and pedestrians. The commercial, which was partly filmed at the level crossing at Llanboidy, Carmarthenshire, will be aired across Britain.

Mark Langman, area general manager, commented: “Level crossings are safe, but tragically it is unsafe driver behaviour that causes accidents and deaths. Every week three motorists risk their lives and those of others by abusing level crossings. We have a simple message to all: don’t run the risk.”

The work on this campaign is running in parallel with other Network Rail and industry initiatives to minimise the safety risk at level crossings. These include working with local authorities to look into alternatives, including flyovers, tunnels and footbridges, and researching into new technology to automatically detect obstacle on the railway line

A series of level crossing awareness days was held at 20 level crossings across Wales during summer. The events engaged more than 2000 people on level crossing safety issues.