I don’t want to offend you, but maybe the hard attitude that you are expressing is a large part of the problem.

If the authorities take the view that warning signs are in place and therefore it is 100% the responsibility of drivers to see them and drive cautiously as a result, then nothing will get done to improve the signage….and tragedies will continue to happen…..and those who miss the signs will be deemed 100% responsible, when in fact those who are responsible for inadequate signage or for not improving the warning system after years of horrible accidents should be held to account.

Of course, an idiot that races a train across a level crossing is another story. But let’s be careful about that. What appears to be a testosterone-fuelled spur-of-the-moment challenge, is probably often a case of missing the warning signs, while in the middle of a conversation with a passenger, singing along with a CD, or under the influence of any one of a thousand other distractions…..or just plain tired or absent-minded.

I find it extremely hard to imagine even the most idiotic youth being so foolish as to put their life on the line by racing a train to a crossing unless it is very clear to them that they are going to win by a big margin!

Jayb, what does it matter if it is a main line or a little side line? If there is anything more than the most minuscule chance of a driver not seeing it or registering it in their mind until the last moment, then there’s a major problem.

I re-iterate. "If you hit any train on that line it's you own bloody fault." Take resopnsibility for your own actions don't blame someone or something else.

…..and those who miss the signs will be deemed 100% responsible, when in fact those who are responsible for inadequate signage or for not improving the warning system.

It would matter how much the Government did about warnings, some idiot will ignore them & blame everything else. Once again I re-interate. It's natures way. Survival of the fittest. It gets rid of the idiots so they don't breed more idiots. The prevelent view on life today by the Namby Pamby is,"I accept no responsibility. It's everybody elses fault if something bad happens to me." Well here's some bad news. "Bullexcreter and stiff excreter." I stand by this statement.

I find it extremely hard to imagine even the most idiotic youth being so foolish as to put their life on the line by racing a train to a crossing unless it is very clear to them that they are going to win by a big margin!

This was no youth. It was a 50 year old man who traveled that road every day.

Let me say, I attended a lot of "accidents?" in my 15 years on the Breakdown Gang. I never saw one that wasn't caused by the persons own stupidity. Nothing to do with, "signage,""road conditions" or "any other reason." Just, "Pilot Error." As they say in Vietnamese, "Xin loi" or in Aussie venacular "Stiff $#!^." Another dead idiot is no great loss to the world.:-)

“This was no youth. It was a 50 year old man who traveled that road every day.”

Jayb you missed my point. Even the most idiotic youth is not likely to race a train across a crossing unless he absolutely knows he is going to win (in which case it isn’t really a race). In other words, even the absolute end-of-the-spectrum stupid person is not going to undertake a real race with a train. So a 50 year-old who is very familiar with the road and crossing that he came to grief on, is just not going to race a train. Distractions, absent-mindedness, the feeling that a train is extremely unlikely to come along in the precise one second time period that he is actually crossing the rail line – these are the sorts of things that must have applied in this case….surely!

“It would[n’t] matter how much the Government did about warnings, some idiot will ignore them & blame everything else”

The better the warning system, the less the number of accidents. But of course, it will never be entirely fool-proof.

“It's natures way. Survival of the fittest. It gets rid of the idiots so they don't breed more idiots.”

That would be almost acceptable if the “idiots” were 100% to blame….and if they were the only ones affected. But neither of these applies.

Ludwig

I recall at time, many years ago now, when driving somewhere through the Barossa Valley, rounding a bend I was virtually on top of a rail crossing, the high grass on all sides obscured any indication of a track and I had no chance to stop - missed a train by "that much". Not something you ever forget, seeing the front end of a diesel bearing down... signs set well back from the crossing would have been much appreciated.

I don't understand this obsession of Jayb's that all accidents are the fault of the driver and why s/he would not be in favour of clearer signs.

Rail is an excellent method for transport and, I suspect that we will see more, rather than less trains in the future as we shift reliance on trucks and become more sustainable. The placement of earlier signage works out much cheaper than the installation of under or over passes at all crossings.

Ultimately we cannot protect against sheer stupidity or bad luck. Nor can we protect ourselves from people who see things in terms of black or white only - these people tend to want the last word as well. I am positive there are more Ludwigs in this world than Jayb's, your points are reasonable and succint, as always.

Cheers

Thanks Fractelle

I had a similar near-miss experience as a kid when my father crossed in front of a train with the whole family on board in Albany in about 1972.

Why do some crossings have larger red flashing lights than others, with big broad black borders around them?

To make them stand out more against a bright background and be a whole lot harder to miss.

So, our illustrious authorities realised at some point that there was a problem with people not seeing the standard smaller red flashing lights in time, at least at some crossings under certain conditions.

They realised that improvements in the warning system were needed. But they apparently didn’t recognise this as the critical issue….and they addressed it in a highly inadequate manner, that is so typical with road-safety issues overall.