Level crossing day

[John Ashworth]

LEVEL CROSSING DAY

On June 26, 2012 In South Africa
Railways Africa
From Transnet Freight Rail Weekly Bulletin, 18 June 2012

International Level Crossing Day (Ilcad), which is observed around the world annually, fell on 7 June 2012. Ilcad’s objective is to raise awareness of the dangers associated with unsafe acts at level crossings. This year”s theme was “Act safely at level crossings’. In support of this internationally recognised initiative, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) employees, with the support of the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) , the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), South African Police Services (Saps), the railway police, local municipalities and community safety forums went out to “hotspot” areas to sensitise and educate community members residing close to the railway, to always act safely at and around level crossings. The team imparted oral awareness messages to motorists who stopped at crossings, and leaflets containing safety messages were distributed to both pedestrians and motorists. TFR general manager safety Patrick Dada personally visited the Rondebult level crossing. His presence confirmed TFR top management’s commitment to the eradicating of level crossing accidents. The focus of the campaign was safety awareness (education) and promotion of safety behaviour by all users in and around level crossings throughout the world. Stakeholders who were at Rondebult crossing to show moral support were Saps members, Rondebult community members with their councillor and helpful volunteers who showed their passion and commitment to assist TFR in eradicating level crossing incidents.

The Rondebult crossing is used by children going to and from school as the line cuts across their community. Other pedestrians use the crossing when heading to various destinations. During the interaction with motorists and pedestrians, it was clear that most residents are supportive of the campaign and really appreciated the initiative. They pointed out the need for Rondebult level crossing to be equipped with automatic boom gates.

[Steve Appleton]

Of interest was a "level crossing awareness" seminar held by the Rail Safety Regulator, an organisation that is very concerned about crossing accidents and ways to reduce or elliminate them.

First is that a new standard for level crossings has been published as SANS 3000-2-2-1. Available from the SABS or as a "read-only" version on the RSR's website at http://www.rsr.org.za.

Second is that, amongst other things, this standard proposes the replacement of all "red flashing disks" at controlled crossings with standard green, yellow and red traffic signals. Green would mean that the crossing may be crossed without stopping whereas red would mean "stop, stay and wait" as it does now in other traffic situations. This is then enforceable under the legislation for ignoring a red traffic signal.

The purpose of the change is mainly to reduce confusion in the minds of motorists who, as the RSR's research indicates, think that the flashing red lights mean that it is safe to proceed after stopping, or not even stopping but simply checking that no train is approaching. The existing flashing red lights are not being interpreted by some motorists as an instruction to stop, stay and wait for a train.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

I agree the flashing lights are confusing. I keep thinking always that they are just cautionary lights!

TRANSET have been do quite a lot on the crossing side - there are stacks of hoarding and posters in my area that have gone up over the last 3 or 4 months - some quite good I think. Will take a few pics when I next go past.......

[John Ashworth]

I think it's especially confusing in South Africa, where flashing red lights at a road crossing mean the crossing should be treated as a 4-way stop, ie you stop, but if it is clear you can proceed. I imagine a road user who has never read their highway code could assume that the flashing red lights at a railway crossing mean the same: stop, and then proceed if it looks clear. It might well look clear to someone who doesn't know how fast trains travel and how long it takes them to stop! So I agree that replacing the flashing lights with a "normal" steady red/yellow/green traffic light might be better.

There's less excuse for stupid motorists in UK, where flashing red lights don't normally exist apart from level crossings as far as I know, except outside fire stations, where they also mean "stop".