I mean how stupid do you have to be to "take a chance" at a level crossing?

[JollyPirate]

Honestly

My Dad drives steam engines and killed someone once. Daft woman tried to beat the train at the crossing. She failed. Thank heavens no-one else was hurt but obviously it was extremely distressing for my Dad and everyone else on the train.

Really stupid thing is this crossing was on the lane to her farm - it's a private lane so she knew fine well where the crossing was and that she should have waited.

On the news this morning they were saying learning how to use levels crossings safely should be part of the driving test.

What's the point? I mean how hard is it to understand that if you cross a railway when the barriers are down you are very likely to get yourself and others killed.

Maybe showing those clips at schools would help but I suspect that there would always be some idiot who thinks, 'Cool, I'll have to try that.'

I was once a passenger in a car where the driver swerved round the gates of a level crossing, and the train missed us by inches.
It is the closest to death I have ever come, and was terrifying. I shook for hours afterwards.
I was FURIOUS with the driver.

taipo - oddly enough, I learned how to use level crossings after the driving test. Had never driven over one when I took the test. I did follow a "better safe than sorry" principle, and stopped if any lights were showing, but I didnt actually know what they meant!

There is a general hatred of trains in this country, partly I'm sure because they are always running late, the barriers always get stuck or stay down for hours causing terrible traffic problems.
People are sick of it. They have no respect for trains.
I've gone through gates that were coming down before, a few times, when I was younger - the wait isn't always a few minutes, or wasn't with our crossing anyway, but there was always at least a minute between the gates going down and the train coming - usually about 5 actually.

If you can see the train standing at the station and you are not in a vehicle that might stall, so ie if you're walking, it isn't such a huge risk. But I take the point it's usually better to wait..

sausage - sadly people who have followed that line of reasoning have sometimes ended up dead. Because the lights may well be indicating that there is another train coming. Unless it's single track, the fact there's a stationary train means feck all.

And it is people like my dh who have to go out to the scene and deal with the nasty effects of train versus car or train versus person. Dh is a career railwayman, btw, not a member of the emergency services. He joined the railway as an engineer, not to go and deal with decapitated corpses.

Snort, having a hatred of trains in some way makes it possible to change the laws of physics! LOL

Stupid people will do stupid things, you can't stop them, they can't help it - you can only hope that they don't take anyone else with them.

Someone was killed in a car at a level crossing in our town on Saturday - it's the second death there in two years, and there was another a few years back, where it was thought the girl involved was blinded by the low sun shining in her eyes.

I don't know the circumstances of this accident, but I've seen plenty of people taking risks at the (different) crossing next to the station - it's common to see two or three cars jump the lights - but there's a roundabout a car's length from the exit gate and the first car usually has to stop & the next two get stuck on the crossing.

The gates are down for an average of 20 minutes in an hour, so people know they are likely to be stuck for ages if they stop, and they take a chance. If they go ahead with the new Heathrow rail link, the gates will be shut for half an hour, so probably ther'll be even more idiots willing to risk it...

Stayingdavid - true, that's not what you sign up for when you work on the railways but my Dad's career did involve some very grisly moments. Supervising the clear-up operation after a herd of cows strayed into the Woodhead tunnel put him off his steak and kidney for years...

On a more sombre note he was once walking through a passenger train in the old days of slam doors when he spotted a girl sitting in an open doorway, dangling her legs outside. He froze, not sure whether to try to grab her or whether that would make her jump. She looked round, spotted him and leapt. To her death, obviously. He had nightmares about that one for years.

Your poor Dad

Sausage there was a case of two girls killed in the last year or so. They were so intent on catching their train that was sat in the station they didnt see the one coming the other way.

A lad I was at school with died on a level crossing.He tried to drive over as the gates came down and the barriers crushed his car and broke his neck.He was 17.

I live alongside a level crossing, and it is down for 38 minutes of every hour. There are four minutes of downtime before a train even arrives.

It is no surprise that people go through after the lights turn red.

Network Rail can do what they like. They do not have to consider road movements when they set rail timetables. They don't care about the chaos they cause on the ground. When you live in a town with five roads in, four of which have level crossings, you have thought of all the issues and have strong points of view.

No "thinking about issues and having strong points of view" is going to change the fact that if 200tons+ of metal hits you at speed then you are squashed.

It is like that bit of Hitchikers Guide where Arthur is asked if he knows how much damage the bulldozer will suffer if it drives over him. The answer? None at all.

Morloth's right, MmeBlueberry. I am sure that it is bloody irritating to have to wait at level crossings so much, but is it really worth the risk of being hit by a train to get wherever you are going that bit quicker?

There's no need to 'snort', because nobody suggested the laws of physics could be changed...I just said it could be a contributing factor to people taking these risks, that they have no respect for trains.

I didn't suggest it was sensible. fgs

and yes, of course there can be a train coming the other way but when you know the timetable this generally informs quite well - and if a train comes through BEFORE the gates are fully down, that's a bit shit really isn't it. That's the only time I have taken a risk, when the gates are not actually down. it was a LONG time ago and I wouldn't bother now.

There is no way that you are going to get hit by a train at the level crossings in my town. They are activated when the train is two stations away in both directions. They have a 2-minute stop on their journey. While drivers are queued at the level crossing, belching out fumes, the train is safely in the station picking up passengers.

penalties are stiffer now - someone I know went through when the lights had just started to go, barrier not down yet and he got banned from driving

I'm astounded here at people justifying their risk taking. Once the lights go on and the barriers are on their way down then all bets are off and if you try to dodge through then you're stupid. Very simple. Knowing a trains timetable will be no help on that occasion that a one off goods train or a non stopping train comes through. I grew up between two level crossings and know how frustrating they can be but some things you just have to grin and bear.

Me too, Rockbird. As I said, dh has had to go and help deal with the aftermath of people being hit by trains, and has had to talk to the drivers of the trains, and it is really not worth the risk.

Risk taking is fine, don't care - go for it. Survival of the fittest and all that. If you aren't smart enough to figure out this is a bad idea then you really do deserve whatever comes your way.

OK, Morloth, try saying that to the relatives of people on the train who get killed because a car driver takes a risk.

But you can't stop them RustyBear, if a sign, a big red light (like in the video), a barrier and all the other things that are put in place already are not enough. How could you possibly stop them? Watching that video, you can see the kids on the bike waiting for the go-ahead to cross, then you see the dumb fuck of a mother run across. The kids deserve to live, the mother doesn't - that's the way it goes.

As I said upthread, total sympathy for anyone on the train who is hurt/killed/traumatised. But there is only so much you can do before thinking that sometimes people just have to be left to their own judgement - if that judgement is crap there isn't anything anyone can do.

If a 200ton train isn't enough of a deterrent then a fine isn't going to make any difference.

What Morloth said. Unfortunately these idiots affect other people as well as themselves.

MmeBlueberry, the lights and barriers are activated well before the train is due for jolly good reasons. It can take well over a mile for a train to stop - it doesn't work like an emergency stop in a car.

Relying on the timetable is very dangerous for the reasons Rockbird gives. Please don't risk your life and those of other innocent people.

If you are irritated by living with level crossings, then you could try to campaign for a road bridge. But don't hold your breath, you are talking about millions of pounds. Even a footbridge costs something like £300k these days. That's why we have so many level crossings in this country, it would be eye-wateringly expensive to try to replace them.