Re: problems at ringwood (again) - sun 17/10

[Michael <mk@netstra.com.au>]

Hi,

During the PTC open day approx 7 years ago, I remember watching a
demonstration at the Epping Workshops, by the CFA. The basic scenario
was, they ran a spark directly into an old car. 

A couple of things to note are, the spark was doing no more than 5kph, at
the time of the impact, as to probably not do any damage, and the car
wasn't exactly small. By the end of the impact, when the train stopped,
the car was a total mess. 

Imagine a fully laden 6 car spark doing this at anywhere between 20kph
and 60kph? Or we can go one level worse, pick any freight train,
particularly steel, hauled by heavy locos. 

People take the attitude "nah, it can't happen to me, it never has before
so it wont now". People also think that the train can stop, or they won't
get stuck on a crossing. People also think that just because there is a
blind spot not allowing them to see more than 25m up/down the track, that
there is no train. 

You are right, we do need a TAC style ad campaign, however the other
issue to be addressed which is just as important, is pedestrian traffic.
"Oh, i cant hear the train, so there mustn't be one", never mind that
they are probably listening to a portable stereo, or the train is a quiet
one. 

I believe I may have mentioned this on past occasions, but I have seen the 
stupidity that goes on, at the Bell Street / Bell Station level crossing, 
having been committed to 6 years of secondary education within that 
vicinity. Then there was the accident there. A train (375M??) ran into a 
stationary truck. The train was going slowly, as it had to stop at Bell 
Station, but still did not have enough time to stop. A number of people on 
the train itself suffered minor injuries as well, for this truck driver's 
stupidity.

Writing/ranting about it in here won't help however, maybe we need to 
convey the message onto our local members to try and get somethign done.

Regards
Michael

(Who also saw a car sitting in middle of the level crossing at Glenroy, 
last week, while a train was approaching).

david said on 18-Oct-1999 in <380A86DD.7DB2748D@nmit.vic.edu.au>:

>Perhaps we need a TAV style  advert to get people thinking, car drives
>on level crossing with no room, train comes, hits, crushes - what do you
>think ????
>
>Regards,
>David Head