Re: [NSW] Five (in a car) thought dead after train crash

["Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.NOSPAM>]

Alex Pout wrote in message
<3a7d32ce$0$16387$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au>...
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but that crossing has some sort of bumps in the
road
>on the approach and departure.  I know that the Olympic Way crossing north
of
>Albury has them (is that the crossing here?? My geography around that area
>isn't all that strong.) as well as running parallel to the rail line on
both
>sides of the crossing.

Yes. I know that crossing well. When I last drove along Hwy 41 from Wagga
Wagga to Albury in July 1997, there were MORE than enough warning signs and
devices. Leading up to the crossing on either side, there are white painted
stripes across the road for about 200m on either approach to the RR
crossing. These painted stripes are used with success throughout Europe in
situations where it is desired that traffic slows down - if I'm not
mistaken, as you go forward, the stripes are spaced at ever decreasing
smaller distances as a psychological reminder to slow down (apparently if
you travel forward at a constant speed, the stripes will appear to be
'speeding up', thus compelling the driver to slow down). Another location
where they are used is at the northern end of the F3 Sydney to Newcastle
freeway, where 110km/h traffic must slow down for a roundabout at John
Renshaw Drive.

I believe that the paint used is reflective heavy-duty road surface paint -
the paint is quite thick and it does at certain speeds feel like 'bumps' in
the road. In any case, there is no way that any sober driver could miss
them, and not realise that the stripes are warning that something is ahead.
There are numerous signs too, not only warning of the RR tracks, but the 90º
bends.

Both approaches are more or less parallel to the railway, with 90º bends
immediately either side of the crossing. The bends are quite sharp, but very
well signed. How one can even think of 'racing' an XPT with such a difficult
arrangement to negotiate at high speeds, I do not know.

>Methinks I might nominate them for a Darwin Award.

Yes, the driver was very stupid IMO, but now's not the time for
recriminations. The blame rests solely with the car driver. We'll never know
if the passengers 'egged' him on. It's a wasteful tragedy - five young men
at the prime of their lives going off to see a friend in a rugby game are
now dead, and a country town is at a complete loss. I sincerely hope that
the five deaths were not in vain, and the widespread media coverage should
have served as a wake-up call to people who might not realise that railway
crossings are NOT to be taken lightly.

Many times I am tempted to blame poorly maintained and constructed roads for
rural highway accidents, this time is not one of them. The RTA and the
police have done what it could to make that crossing the safest possible.

</soapbox>

Regards,
Bradley.