Ads to prevent Level X-ing deaths

[Mojo]

RAIL bosses hope a shocking new advert will dramatically cut the number of deaths at level crossings.

The graphic image used in the ad is particularly aimed at drivers who jump red lights or weave between barriers as high-speed trains approach.

Last year, 13 people were killed at level crossings, taking the total to 221 since 1967.

Compared to 150, 000 on the roads since 1967.

Network Rail launched the £3million advertising campaign - on TV for the first time this Thursday - in a bid to combat the "senseless waste of life" at crossings.

Deputy chief executive Iain Coacher said: "Every year too many people are needlessly killed at level crossings.

"We are running this campaign in order to shake the complacency of road users who put their own lives and those of rail passengers at risk.

"If you or your car is in collision with high speed train your chance of survival is close to zero.

"Our message is simple, level crossings are safe if used correctly, so don't run the risk."

The campaign, which will also feature on radio, cinemas, the internet and posters, comes just days after an inquiry into the deaths of two teenage friends at a crossing recommended a review of railway safety.

Olivia Belington, 14, and 13-year-old Charlotte Thompson died when they were hit by a train as they used a footpath crossing at Else ham station, Essex, last December. With the number of broken rails falling sharply, Network Rail now believes level crossings are the most serious safety issue facing the industry. the campaign was welcomed by unions. But bosses also called for more technology to help prevent such accidents - and one bereaved parent branded the ads "cosmetic".

PeterWebster's14-year-old daughter Emily was one of seven people who died in a derailment caused by a car on a level crossing at Futon Nervet, Berks, in November 2004.

Where?

He said:" I'm Luke warm about an ad campaign. Will it change people's behavior? It's a bit like drink driving.

"People who take such risks think it will never happen to them. Network Rail should spend money on the technology that exists to prevent these accidents.

"What is the point of half barriers? They should replace them with full ones."

So people can be trapped between them on the line?

Mr. Webster said trains should also be fitted with seat belts and the glass strengthened.

Oh, so people can be trapped on the train if it should crash?

He added: "The official report said four of the five passengers who died at Futon Nervet, including Emily, might have survived if the train was fitted with laminated glass."

Ah. Futon Nervet, I thought I misheard that the first time

Aslef chief Keith Norman backed Mr. Webster's call for better technology - including a video link from level crossings to train cabs to give drivers time to slow down if they spot an obstruction.

He said: "This wouldn't eliminate all these tragic incidents, but it would reduce them dramatically." The system works successfully in Hong Kong.

"People die on level crossings on a frighteningly regular basis, but because they are isolated local incidents, no one recognizes the scale of the problem nationally.

"While we have every sympathy for families involved, train drivers are often the hidden victims of railway crossing incidents.

"I was involved in a fatality many years ago. Every time I drove along that stretch of line I was haunted by what had happened. It is every driver's nightmare.

"There is nothing you can do. You can't swerve and you can't stop.

"Express trains take three quarters of a mile to stop. It is a terrible experience that can leave a permanent scar."

RMT leader Bob Crow welcomed the ads but said the way to stop accidents was to replace crossings with bridges or under passes.

He added: "Level crossings were a 19th century solution. In the 21st century we shouldn't have trains and cars sharing space."

 

[David]

I see you've read the same Daily Mirror article I read yesterday. The 1 thing that p****s me of about it is the roll-call of the dead and injured at the bottom. That list makes it sound as though the railways are at fault for every single incident.
[EDIT]
Just to add, link to the article is HERE.

Now you can see what I mean by the roll-call.

 

[devon_metro]

Thing is it's not the railways fault!! If you are stupid enough to cross a level crossing with barriers down and lights flashing, regardless of whether they are half or full barriers you get what you deserve!
The simple thing to do is, even if you cannot see a train coming, not cross!
They can't blame NR as the safety equipment is there, stupid people choose to risk theirs and other lives to be selfish and not wait for the train to pass!

 

[theblackwatch]

Strangely, I've never heard calls for barriers at road junctions where some motorist has jumped the lights, resulting in the death of another road user or pedestrian.

If the newspapers produce such inaccurate reports about railways which we all know about, it does make you wonder how much other stuff in them, concerning any other subjects which we don't have a good knowledge of, is also of dubious accuracy....

 

[Guinness]

£3m? I can think of many things that could be spent better with that kind of money. £3 million to lower level crossing deaths down from 13 per year?

Complete waste of money.

 

[LucaZone]

Network Rail should file a lawsuit against the Highways Agency for tresspassing, and blockade all Level Crossings!

Then it will be upto the Highways Agency to build bridges OVER the railways

 

[Mojo]

The highways agency are only responsible for Motorways, where there are no level crossings, and also for Trunk A roads, where level crossings are few and far between (could there even be none - I've never seen any?)

Besides, it's the railway's responsability to retain a right of way or public highway where one exists, many of which predates the railway's existance, and it only becomes trespass where a train is approaching or the barriers are down / lights flashing.

 

[ikar]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...e_id=386528&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ct=5

Quote:
As the locomotive smashed into the flimsy three-wheeler, the car was swatted aside like a toy.
-----

Since when is a 150 a loco, excellent news for loco lovers...

 

[David]

From my local rag....

A HARD-hittting campaign has highlighted a North Lincolnshire level crossing as a hot spot for danger.

The level crossing at Dawes Lane, Scunthorpe, has been highlighted as one of the hotspot areas where there has been a higher number of incidents than other areas.

WTF??? When was the last accident or near miss there? IIRC it was about 3 years ago.

 

[yorkie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=386528&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ct=5

Quote:
As the locomotive smashed into the flimsy three-wheeler, the car was swatted aside like a toy.
-----

Since when is a 150 a loco, excellent news for loco lovers...

Direct links to the videos are at:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/video/2006/robin1.wmv

and

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/video/2006/robin2.wmv

 

[Guinness]

From my local rag....


WTF??? When was the last accident or near miss there? IIRC it was about 3 years ago.

Anything to make a media story....

 

[Nick W]

The highways agency are only responsible for Motorways, where there are no level crossings, and also for Trunk A roads, where level crossings are few and far between (could there even be none - I've never seen any?)

There's one on the there single carrigeway A12 at Darsham, which is the main road from Lowestoft - Ipswich then and onto London.

Though it's possible that the highway's agency are only responsible for the dual bits of the A12.

The problem with the current situation is that there is a long delay between the crossing going down and the first train, which incites people to be dangerous (though admittedly if you break down on a crossing as the barriers go down you have plenty of time to phone up.)

 

[AJP]

I personally dont think adverts are nessacery, Its obvisous barriers down train is coming, but unfortunatly there are some idiots out there.

 

[LucaZone]

freakin heck!

He should be praising the lord right now that he is still alive! (not that im a beliver)

Just look at the timing of the collision. Both vehicles crossing at EXACTLY the same time. Both hitting the front corner. If that driver was doing just a few miles an hour more he'd have been half way across and the train would have been over the top of the vehicle!

Fate anyone? It could have been as simple as tuning the radio too his concentration from the speed for a few seconds, and he slowed up before continuing, that eventually saved his life!



I saw one of the NR adverts the other day, and its not as shocking as I hoped. A cute bunny rabbit hopping along the track passing personal effects before a fireman scares him off while they cut someone out of a smashed up car.

Id wanna see the bunny rabbit crossing with its babies safely, while 100yards up the track, piles of smashed cars lay wasted next to the crossing. Then an ending line like - If nature can do it safely, why cant you!


ow and one last point Good reaction of the driver, not sure of the speed, but he wouldnt have seen the car until maybe 1 second before the impact, and he still stopped just outside the length of his train.

 

[Nick W]

I saw an advert today.

I wonder why Network Rail has to pay when Highway's agency don't pay for the speed kills adverts.

 

[Table 52]

It all comes from the same fund in the end doesn't it- the taxpayer.

 

[Mojo]

Nick has a good point, the "Think! Road Safety" campaign is funded directly by the DfT, who have a special fund for it, but NR get a set amount of funding, so the £3 million won't be spent on improvements/management lunches/etc.

 

[AJP]

You wouldn't say that if you worked for the railways! It's quite frightening how many people do take chances and how people don’t engage brain before doing things.

In a past life dealing with level crossings meant chances being taken by users on a daily basis - farmers are the worst. And if the barriers are down for a prolonged period 9/10 times the first vehicle will try and weave around, followed by the others like lambs to the slaughter. For some reason when people are in cars they feel protected from the outside world even though a 3000 ton freight train is bearing down on them.

I rate public education about railways in general, whether thats the safety aspect or anything else 1 out of 10. Most people just don’t understand them and get influenced by the biased media and their own presumptions. So anything like this that is raising awareness is good imho.

Oh yer I no that, I have seen it espeically at Kingsknowe and Kirknewton near Edinburgh, all im saying people will always be hurring and will always be stupid!

 

[O L Leigh]

If nature can do it safely, why cant you!

It can't. You should see the number of dead pigeons/pheasants/rabbits/foxes/badgers/cats/deer, etc in the 4 foot.

While Nitwit Rail's attempts at educating the "Great Unwashed" are laudable, I doubt they will be effective. Far too many people will see the advert but won't make the connection that the consequences it portrays could apply to them. While there's a few minutes to be made, drivers and pedestrians will continue to take unnecessary risks crossing railway lines against the signals. Just the other day, a chap vaulted both gates on a CCTV crossing in order to meet up with his pal on the other platform. While we'd stopped, there was no way he could have known that there wasn't a non-stop service approaching on the other line (which is precisely the circumstances in which the double-fatality at Elsenham occurred).

The problem is that we can't show what really happens when cars and people get in the way of a 250 ton train. Instead, we get comedy clips of a Reliant Robin being swatted aside by a Cl150.

one TN

 

[LucaZone]

wasnt there some Aussie campaign that really did show it though? but in ghost form. The camera's are in the car with the driver and family, and you see the train hit the car from the inside and then it all blows away like smoke and theres just a spinning numberplate on the level crossing.

 

[Sprog]

Seen the adverts a few times now.

I think they are rather effective and emotive, especially with the fireman carrying the empty baby-seat towards the end.

and how the hell do you know it wont work? seeming most numptiesd are engrossed in TV, if theyre suddenly seeing ths sortve add, then IMO, perhaps itll open there eyes, if only slightly.

 

[Angus]

I saw the bunny one the other day - a bit tame really - not a particularly hard-hitting message if you ask me. They should make them more bloody in order to terrify people out of messing about with crossings IMO.

 

[O L Leigh]

and how the hell do you know it wont work? seeming most numptiesd are engrossed in TV, if theyre suddenly seeing ths sortve add, then IMO, perhaps itll open there eyes, if only slightly.

How many people still drink and drive/don't wear a seatbelt/don't have a smoke alarm/continue smoking in spite of the many "ads" on TV about the dangers of such activities? No-one ever thinks it will happen to them.

one TN

 

[Demps]

I dont want to put this argument into a conflict, but the first thing that you noted was hat there is 150000 deaths on the road since 1967 and 221 for level crossings. Putting this into perspective the roads are a huge network with endless miles of roads which are potential danger zones, where as a level crossing is a few metres and is a hazourd that only occurs when a train collides with a train either by chance or motive.

So 221 and 150000 do have a *10 to the power* differance of 3 digits but i guess that the subjects them selves have a even larger differance, by a long way.

this may vaugley be of topic. lol