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400 motorists charged with level crossing ‘misuse’ in 2014
Approximately 400 motorists have been charged for level crossing ‘misuse’ in the last year, potentially risking their lives and those of other road and rail users, British Transport Police (BTP) has claimed.
New figures highlight that between 1 April 2014 and 1 January 2015, a further 357 motorists received fixed penalty notices, 16 were cautioned and 568 were sent on driver awareness courses.
BTP Inspector Becky Warren said: “All too often people get into the habit of taking risks at crossings. It may be tempting to jump a light to shave a minute or two off your journey, but every time you do, you endanger your life and the lives of other road and rail users.”
The message comes ahead of a week of action – starting on Monday 2 February – where BTP officers will be carrying out additional high-visibility patrols at crossings as part of ‘Operation Look’.
The project, backed by the AA and the RAC, will see BTP’s fleet of Mobile Safety Vehicles stationed at crossings across the country during the week. The vans utilise the latest in Automatic Number Plate Recognition, allowing BTP to monitor crossings more closely than ever before.
Tina Hughes, Network Rail’s Level Crossing Champion, who lost her 14-year-old daughter, Olivia, with her friend on the Elsenham level crossing in Essex in December 2005, said she was delighted to see this nationwide week of action.
After a drawn out legal battle over Elsenham, Network Rail was fined £1m in 2012 after admitting health and safety breaches over the deaths of the two girls at the level crossing.
RTM revealed last summer how Network Rail finance director Patrick Butcher keeps a photo in his office of Olivia as a constant reminder of the human consequences of safety failures.
“It brings BTP and Network Rail together to emphasise the importance of education and enforcement to help and encourage people to behave safely at level crossings,” said Hughes.
Last month, Network Rail was also told to implement a “time-bound plan” for the re-assessment of train sighting arrangements at all its user-worked level crossing (UWCs), especially where safe use depends on vehicle drivers ‘sighting’ approaching trains.
The recommendation was made following a Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report into an incident where a passenger train approaching Woodbridge station in Suffolk hit a car at the Jetty Avenue UWC in July 2013.
Darren Furness, head of level crossings for Network Rail, stated that level crossings create a “risk for people that we want to remove”.
He added that where possible the infrastructure owner closes them, and “we have already closed more than 900 in the past five years”.
“We know waiting at crossings can sometimes be frustrating but it is really important that people do not get complacent or ignore warnings lights as this can put lives at risk,” said Furness.
Writing in RTM, Martin Gallagher, Futronics Group Ltd managing director and chair of the United Nations Expert Group on Level Crossing Safety, discussed the double standards in level crossing improvements.
In March 2014, Mark Carne “apologised unreservedly” for Network Rail’s past failing in managing public safety at level crossings.
(Top image: Library photo of results of the fatal collision between a train and car Stanmoor Road crossing near Athelney in Somerset in March 2013)
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