Evolution By Natural Stupidity At Work?

[DangerUXD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21873451

[FredPuli43]

Never understand why there are half barriers. What stops the installation of full width barriers covering the whole road on both sides ?

[Gromit]

We are bottom of the European League for accidents at level crossings

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/mar/10/level-cross-accident-statistics

[Anngel]

Yes, but that poor driver of the train! Traumatising for him/her.

[bednobs]

i live by a level crossing (it used to have 1/2 barriers) Since the ufton nervet crash, they have been replaced by full barriers, for the hard of thinking.

I think you would be amazed at just how many idiots there are aout there

[doctordb]

Probably best to know why it happened before calling a dead person stupid.

[youngmafbog]

Probably because our lines were all shut down by Beeching Gromit.

[naomi24]

I hate driving across level crossings.

[Gromit]

youngmafbog

We have a big network even after Beeching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_transport_network_size

Did not know that the USA has hardly any electrification of its huge network.

[woofgang]

Sadly that sounds like suicide to me.

[mushroom25]

//Never understand why there are half barriers. What stops the installation of full width barriers covering the whole road on both sides ? //

it's a matter of risk mitigation. If a crossing warrants full barriers, CCTV necessarily goes with it because of the risk of entrapment between the closed barriers (a risk not prevalent at a half-barrier crossing), thus increasing the cost of installation, maintenance, etc.

ultimately it's down to how much those that finance the railways (you and me at the end of the day) believe it is necessary to spend to protect road users from themselves.

[New Judge]

Level crossing fatalities in the UK have remained remarkably consistent for the last 40 years despite a drastic decrease in overall road fatalities in the same period. (Level crossing deaths between 10 and sixteen per annum, annual road deaths down from around 7,000 to well under 3,000).

Analysis of the causes of these fatal incidents suggests that they are overwhelmingly caused by road vehicle drivers or pedestrians misusing the crossings. In fact I can find no instance of a fatality on a crossing on a public road where the cause was either faulty railway equipment or misuse on the part of those controlling the train for at least twenty-five years. There have, however, been one or two where the design or layout of the crossing was held to be at least partially to blame.

From eye witness accounts this latest incident seems to have been caused by the driver trying to zig-zag around the barriers and if that is the case then it will be yet another occasion where road user misuse has caused a fatality.

BTW you need to be very careful when looking at level crossing statistics in the UK. There are around 6,700 of them on the national rail network but the vast majority of them (around 5,200) are not on public roads. Nearly all of these are termed “passive” in that they are not controlled by the railway. They are either gateless or rely on the user to open gates and are often found serving footpaths or as “occupational“ crossings on farms. Those on public roads number about 1,500, down from about 1,800 in 1975 and almost all of these are controlled by the railway. Deaths on railway controlled crossings number about 170 in forty years and only a very small number of these were rail passengers or staff .

[DangerUXD]

the driver weaved around the barrier doctorb.

[doctordb]

Was it suicide? Was the person in a state of emotional distress? Was the person elderly,confused and unaware of their surroundings? Or was the tragic fatality, as you suggest, down to stupidity?

[mushroom25]

///In fact I can find no instance of a fatality on a crossing on a public road where the cause was either faulty railway equipment or misuse on the part of those controlling the train for at least twenty-five years.///

http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/110228_R042011v2_Moreton_on_Lugg.pdf

[New Judge]

Yes thanks for that, mush.

I had missed that one. I was going back through the incidents one by one as I cannot find a decent summary of accidents by cause. I have a fairly good record myself of many incidents but I must say the Hereford incident had escaped my attention.

I think, though, I'll still stick to my assertion that such fatal incidents are are overwhelmingly caused by road users misusing the crossings. But I accept, not exclusively.

[EDDIE51]

The reason for 1/2 barriers is so that you can't get trapped on the crossing if the barriers come down when you are in the middle, it gives you an escape route. However it also means you can weave over if you are daft enough.

[FredPuli43]

"Mush" ? Worthy of Tony Hancock, NJ ! Amazed that there are some 5,000 'private' crossings. There are a few around here and they are all treated with great caution by both drivers of motor vehicles and trains. "Stop, look, listen" is very much the order of the day. Just as well. Last year the Cambridge to London express, which I was on, was held up for a good ten minutes by a farmer using one to get a tractor, trailer, and a combine across, accompanied by his dog. The dog was the only one of the company who didn't dally. Fatalities on these are either very rare or under- reported.

[mushroom25]

NJ, look here -
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventlisting.php
if you put "level crossing defect" into the cause box, there are only 2 events listed.
whereas, entering "road vehicle driver error" pulls up 220 events dating back to the 1830s. Theres are of course only those events that were followed by a formal investigation process.

[New Judge]

V. interesting. Cheers mushroom (hope that meets with fred's approval!!).