Media centre

Monday 3 Nov 2008

THREE MOTORISTS A WEEK DICING WITH DEATH AT BRITAIN'S LEVEL CROSSINGS

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Motorists are risking their lives and those of others according to new figures revealed today by Network Rail. Hundreds of drivers are dicing with death by ignoring warning signs and lights or weaving round barriers at level crossings. There have already been 13 collisions between road vehicles and trains this year. Shockingly, Britain is on course for a four-year high total unless motorists stop running the risk.

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.

Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher 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.”

Between January and September this year there were 2,636 incidents of misuse at Britain’s level crossings. But these were the only ones recorded, the true figure is much higher. There were nearly 900 incidents involving a vehicle, 128 were categorised as a ‘near miss’, where a collision with a train and serious injury or even death was narrowly avoided. Pedestrians too are running the risk at level crossings, with over 200 near misses this year.

Notes to Editors:

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:

- Network Rail’s dedicated community safety team which aims to reduce railway crime and provide young people with positive activities to fill their time
- Development of solutions which could lead to the replacement of some crossings
- Development of obstacle detection systems
- Developing better and cost-effective ways of detecting and recording level crossings misuse
- Working with the Police and Crown Prosecution Service to improve the prosecution of offenders

FACTS ABOUT LEVEL CROSSINGS

Statistics/ Scale of the problem

Total number of reported LX incidents Jan-Sept 2008 = 2636

Year Near miss Misuse Grand Total
2003 421 1737 2158
2004 380 1968 2348
2005 414 2425 2839
2006 378 2843 3221
2007 376 2520 2896
2008 to Sept 365 2271 2636

- Jan-Sep 2008, 14% of all misuse incidents resulted in a near miss

Vehicle Incidents
- 34% (885) of incidents involved a vehicle
- On average three vehicles were involved in a near miss every week (128 total)
- There were 13 collisions between a road vehicle and a train (Jan-Sept 08)

Fatalities (not including suicides)
- 12 people have been killed on level crossings in 2008
- 30 people have been killed on level crossings since 2006
- Highest yearly total in recent years was 14 (excluding 2004 when the Ufton Nervet incident occurred where a person apparently intent on suicide deliberately drove their car onto the tracks)

Pedestrians
- There were 1751 incidents involving a pedestrian (Jan-Sep 2008)
- 237 pedestrians were involved in near misses

General:
- Level crossings are safe if used correctly
- There are over 7,600 level crossings both on public and private land that cut across the UK railway network. There are 629 crossings in Scotland of which 100 are public crossings.
- UK deaths at level crossings are low by international standards – amongst the lowest in Europe and worldwide

The culprits:
- 95% of accidents at level crossings are caused by misuse or error– i.e. drivers ignoring red signals, barriers and klaxons

The dangers:
- Road vehicles misusing level crossings are the single biggest risk to the railway of a major train crash
- Between a car and a train there will only ever be one winner
- Misuse is predominantly deliberate violations