Re: Level crossing collisions

["Ron Bennell" <ron.bennell@qr.com.au>]

David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
<35DD4986.96CED345@ozemail.com.au>...
> John Engleman wrote:
> 
> > The second way to cut down on level crossing
> > accidents is to blow the damned whistle or horn.  And not some little
> > short toot.....lean on the bloody thing.
> 
> We have an organisation which makes this difficult.  It is called the
EPA.
> There is a level crossing at Jaspers Brush, where a special general order
has
> been issued that drivers must use the "town" (quiet) horn only, for a
short
> period of time.  The people complaining about the train noise there have
also
> demanded that train drivers dim their headlights when approaching the
crossing.
> 
> --
> David Johnson

During my brief time as an engineman at Dynon, I routinely (sometimes
several times a day) saw the benefit of having lights on high and plenty of
whistle approaching level crossings. Even then ocassionally one of these
fools would get across and not even notice the train that just shaved their
towbar.
A near miss in a car unfolds very quickly; from the loco cab you have a lot
longer to absorb what is going on in front of you and the effect can be
terror. The only action possible is to apply the brakes, pull on that
whistle rope, then just sit and hope.
So I cannot understand why a driver would not take any action possible to
ensure that his train has been seen. The consequences are too great when
this does not happen. For this reason, I would have great difficulty in
complying with the EPA special general order mentioned above. In court, a
driver may have difficulty in justifying not using all safety measures at
his disposal.

Regards 

Ron Bennell