Media centre

Thursday 25 Jun 2009

WOULD IT KILL YOU TO WAIT? (llanelli)

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

HARD HITTING LEVEL CROSSING SAFETY MESSAGE DRIVEN ACROSS EUROPE

Network Rail today raises awareness of level crossing misuse at one of South Wales' most misused public crossing -Llanelli East, Station Road – in support of a European level crossing day of action. The Don’t Run the Risk awareness day will see activities take place across 23 countries and nine most misused level crossings in Britain.

Its dedicated team of Community Safety Managers will be handing out leaflets that spell out the chilling truth that taking a chance at a level crossing might be the last thing you do, and pose the question: ‘would it kill you to wait?’

The awareness day, which aims to combat level crossing misuse and highlight the dangers of ignoring warning signs and barriers has been supported by road and rail sector organisations including the British Transport Police, Arriva Trains Wales and government agencies across Europe.

Llanelli East is the busiest level crossing in South Wales, with approximately 8000 users a day and a shockingly high number of incidents of misuse. Based on recent records, there were as many as 100 incidents of occurring in a short space of one week and these incidents included vehicles jumping red lights, swerving around barriers and pedestrians trespassing from the crossing onto the platform.

Over 600 people die at level crossings across Europe each year. Across Wales, there were more than 400 level crossings incidents recorded last year and nearly 30 near-misses, where trains narrowly avoided hitting motorists.

Whilst even one fatality is too many, the latest European fatality statistics (2008)* reveal Germany, France, The Netherlands and Spain have all tragically seen higher levels than Britain.

European Country/Total number of persons killed by level-crossing accidents in 2008

Hungary 118
Germany 52
Czech Republic 43
Romania 42
Poland 40
France 38
Latvia 27
Austria 25
The Netherlands 18
Spain 17
Portugal 17
Slovakia 17
Great Britain 15

Network Rail’s hard hitting level crossing safety campaign ‘Don’t Run the Risk’ is beginning to have an impact on people’s behaviour, according to research conducted for the company by Millward Brown.

An online survey this spring found:

• Before the recent advertising campaign (November-February) 55% said they understood what not to do at level crossings, post the campaign this rose to 67%.
• 54% of people said that the advert had already influenced their behaviour at level crossings.
• 67% said that it would influence their behaviour at level crossings in the future.

Alan Milne, community safety manager at Network Rail said: “Jumping the gates, swerving around barriers and ignoring warning signs is sadly a sight we see all too often, and in many cases with tragic outcomes. We’re out today at Llanelli where misuse is at its worst to try and hit home the message that running the risk at a level crossing is just not worth it. By trying to save a few seconds, you could end up losing your life.”

On the campaign research results, Mark Shaoul, head of marketing for Network Rail commented: “The impact we’ve had in driving recognition of the safety campaign with the recent bursts of activity has been phenomenal. We know that translating what people say they will do into real action will be the litmus test, but these results show us we are on the right track for helping to deliver. This, along with many other activities that the business is working on, will help to reduce level crossing incidents and needless injuries and deaths.”