Re: Rail tragedy triggers review of crossings

["Fred Morley" <fredmore@iprimus.com.au>]

My old mate (passed on now ) told me about the time he was shunting across
Hannel in Newcastle (Petrol depots ) & while stationary accross the road a
car ran into the engine ,,police came took notes went away ,later that night
a knock on mates front door was police officer from incident then he asked
mate for his licence thinking he wanted his loco authority showed it to him
BUT he did not want that he wanted his motor drivers licence BECAUSE he was
on the motor thourghafare.The police officer was quickly dipatched to a town
with NO railway
"Matthew Geier" <matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au> wrote in message
9ar0fu$fp7$1@spacebar.ucc.usyd.edu.au">news:9ar0fu$fp7$1@spacebar.ucc.usyd.edu.au...
> In article <3AD101B8.D3101BD5@fang.omni.com.au>,
> David Bromage  <dbromage@fang.omni.com.au> wrote:
> >The deaths of five men in January when their car and an XPT train
> >collided has prompted a review of the State's 1,000 railway level
> >crossings and a doubling of funding for safety improvements. The
> >Transport Minister, Mr Scully, has asked the parliamentary Staysafe
> >committee to inquire into the "status" of crossings, factors
> >contributing to crashes and what education is needed for motorists.
>
>  Nothing short of expensive overbridges I expect will work.
>
>  On Saturday I was with the RTM perway group at Thirmere. Not once but
> TWICE people drove across the Thirmere town crossing with out looking
> or even slowing in front of our trikes. In both cases, traffic going the
> other way had stopped and we though it safe to proceed onto the crossing.
>
>  I'm told the 27 class took the bumper bar of a crossing 'runner' last
year.
>
>
>  The trouble with 'Drivers Licences' in this country is its though of as
> a right, not a privledge and I expect most people consider their licence
> fees as a sort of tax, not any sort of fee for certification.
>
>  Try riding a bicycle around town some time. (or even just walking and
watching
> the flow of traffic).
>
>  Several times in the last few weeks, after recieving the green pedestrian
> 'go' at a new set of lights near Sydney Uni, i've jumped back when a
driver,
> seeing that the cross road lights had changed to red, ASSUMED, that they
would
> then get the green and started to take off before they realized the lights
> were STILL RED and pedestrians were walking across in front of them!. (Its
a
> stop all traffic and let pedestrians walk diagonally accross type).
>  Then there is the pair of teenagers in the next street who thought it
would
> be fun to drag race down their suburban 50Km/hr limit street on a Sunday
> afternoon - who gave those wankers licences in the first place ?.
>
>  I think the level crossing 'problem' is actually part of a far larger
problem
> with the certification and operational skill of operators of motor
vehicals.
>
>