Level Crossing safety

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au>]

The recent tragic accident near Albury highlights the dangers of road and
rail vehicles coming together at level crossings, and whether there is
sufficient education, enforcement and engineering applied to minimise the
frequency of this type of collision occurring within Australia.  It should
be obvious to the most mildly intelligent of us that attempting to race
trains through crossings, or driving through crossings when bells are
ringing is a highly dangerous practice, yet time and time again the train
wins and we lose more lives.

In the USA, grade crossing accidents are also a major problem, but there is
a campaign called "Operation Lifesaver" which seeks to reduce such
accidents.  They have an interesting website at www.oli.org   Safety
authorities here could implement a similar program, though obviously its
name would have to be changed to avoid confusion with our surf patrol
people!

There are some engineering applications which can improve safety at
crossings, such as median barriers which can virtually prevent motorists
driving around lowered half booms, and a new type of barrier gate which when
closed forms a physical barrier, according to the website a pickup truck
travelling at 50 mph into this barrier will be stopped without total
destruction of the vehicle.

Regards

David Bennetts
Bowral