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Level crossing incident: what an idiot !

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AntoniC

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ees-car-level-crossing-running-red-light.html

Sara Malm for the Daily Mail said:
Incredible moment family flees from car on level crossing after getting trapped in path of train when they ran a red light

A family narrowly escaped disaster after their car got stuck on a level crossing with a train approaching, forcing them desperately flee the vehicle.

Elderly people and children were among up to six people in the people carrier after the driver ran a red light leaving them trapped between the automated barriers.

Father-of-three Jawad Hassan, 32, has been banned from driving for 18 months after he sparked panic at the busy crossing last August.....
This story highlights how impatient AND stupid some car drivers are ....
 
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IanD

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I worked in Bradford about 15 years ago,why am I not surprised, used to enjoy a pint at the Cock Inn at Idle,better known as the .... .... you guessed it.



Bob

Lived in Bradford for 20 odd years too. We called it the Idle Cock, not sure what you called it!

The muppet wasn't trapped, he could have swerved round the barrier to get back on the correct side of the road. Can't believe how they all spend ages running around the tracks once the barriers were down.

Banned for 18 months? He'll be driving around as normal as soon as he leaves court.
 

Schnellzug

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How did that happen, though? If it was full barriers, it would have been supervised either directly or by CCTV, wouldn't it, so couldn't the signalman/crossing operator have just raised the barriers before clearing the signal?
 

Aictos

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What I find offensive is what his barrister said:

His barrister, Khadim Al’Hassan, said that what Mr Hassan had done was ‘silly and foolish but not deliberate.’

How can running a red light at a level crossing NOT be deliberate?

I do hope they charged him for any delays and also the bill for repairing the barriers - drivers like him should never be allowed on the roads again!
 

jopsuk

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well clearly the signaller did make sure no trains passed through- perhaps he was dealing with informing drivers of why they were delayed before he dealt with the idiot on his crossing?
 

Schnellzug

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well clearly the signaller did make sure no trains passed through- perhaps he was dealing with informing drivers of why they were delayed before he dealt with the idiot on his crossing?

I'm sure he did, but why not just raise the barrier when he saw the idiot there?
 

furryfeet

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couldn't the signalman/crossing operator have just raised the barriers before clearing the signal?

Like schnellzug, I am puzzled as to why the crossing operator could not do this, since the signals would not have been cleared for the train at this point - it does appear to be a "full barrier" crossing.

Unless there was some form of "Welwyn Control" that would have to elapse before the barriers are raised.
 

blacknight

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So in raising barriers for trapped vehicle red lights would go out giving false impression to other road users its safe to enter the level crossing. If barriers are not interlocked with signals then signaller could find themselves in court on more serious charge.
 
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GB

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No point trying to second guess the crossing operator based on a couple of CCTV frames, we don't know specifically at which point the car driver tried to zig zig nor what sort of time scales are involved.

However if you do want to guess then perhaps the operator was ensuring he had all the relevant details before letting them out. CCTV playback can not always be reliable.
 

4SRKT

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Driving in Bradford District is truly appalling. I see sights every day that would make your hair curl. This does not surprise me in the slightesst.
 

142094

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You also don't know if the car hit any of the barriers, therefore preventing them from rising again. Plus, I bet if the barriers had been raised, this person would have driven off and no doubt probably would not be held accountable for what they had done.
 

GB

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Thanks for the link. Glad the driver stuck around to give his details :roll:

Edit, there is also the fact that the crossing may have been fitted with auto lower.
 

Crimson_Quiff

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'His barrister, Khadim Al’Hassan, said that what Mr Hassan had done was ‘silly and foolish but not deliberate.’

How can running a red light at a level crossing NOT be deliberate?

100% spot on. 'Not Delibrate' - utter tripe. You jump a red light, you do it because you don't want to be held up and be on your way to wherever it is you're going, thus making it deliberate! Any excuse... :roll:
 

4SRKT

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Which level crossing is that BTW? Is it the one at Cross Hills?
 

4SRKT

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That crossing is down about 50% of the time. It drives road users absolutely nuts. Not justifying the actions of this douchebag of course, but the chaos caused by these gates being down so much is considerable, and someone with an impatience problem could do something daft here (and indeed they did). Just endlessly increasing rail frequencies (and there is also a lot of freight on this route: a freight can bring the barriers down for nearly 5 minutes) without considering the wider impact on transport in any area should be a no-no.
 

Oswyntail

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There is a video on YouTube, which to me makes what the driver did look even worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqqk8WYHYuk
That makes it look as if the driver stopped on the crossing deliberately - the gate on his exit route only came down after he stopped, surely?

That crossing is down about 50% of the time. It drives road users absolutely nuts. Not justifying the actions of this douchebag of course, but the chaos caused by these gates being down so much is considerable, and someone with an impatience problem could do something daft here (and indeed they did).....
I think 50% is a wild exaggeration. What is true is that, when the gates come down, you know you are in for a wait, possibly for up to three trains. Most regular users of the crossing know this and allow for it - or take the local alternative route.
 

DarloRich

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That crossing is down about 50% of the time. It drives road users absolutely nuts. Not justifying the actions of this douchebag of course, but the chaos caused by these gates being down so much is considerable, and someone with an impatience problem could do something daft here (and indeed they did). Just endlessly increasing rail frequencies (and there is also a lot of freight on this route: a freight can bring the barriers down for nearly 5 minutes) without considering the wider impact on transport in any area should be a no-no.

No excuse for being a prat, just sit in a line and wait. It must be terrible to be delayed for a whole 5 minutes. What is the world coming to that one must wait 5 minutes for a train to pass.

The answer is simple - pay for a bridge and the required infrastructre upgrades to increase line speed. Call it £30m - £40m. Or do you want to wait 5 minutes?

It is the same in Northallerton when the whole town can be sealed off by crossings but it isnt the end of the world.
 

Paul Kelly

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That makes it look as if the driver stopped on the crossing deliberately - the gate on his exit route only came down after he stopped, surely?
Looks like he was driving too fast and slammed on the brakes in panic when he saw the crossing barriers coming down. Perhaps there were some backseat drivers to blame too, resulting in dithering - happens very easily. Interesting video!
 

4SRKT

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No excuse for being a prat, just sit in a line and wait. It must be terrible to be delayed for a whole 5 minutes. What is the world coming to that one must wait 5 minutes for a train to pass.

The answer is simple - pay for a bridge and the required infrastructre upgrades to increase line speed. Call it £30m - £40m. Or do you want to wait 5 minutes?

It is the same in Northallerton when the whole town can be sealed off by crossings but it isnt the end of the world.

There's no need for sarcasm. I said I didn't condone it in my post, but you didn't read it did you? Either that or you ignored it so that you could dazzle us all with your rapier-like Wildean wit.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That makes it look as if the driver stopped on the crossing deliberately - the gate on his exit route only came down after he stopped, surely?

I think 50% is a wild exaggeration. What is true is that, when the gates come down, you know you are in for a wait, possibly for up to three trains. Most regular users of the crossing know this and allow for it - or take the local alternative route.

8 local trains an hour at 2-3 minutes each is 20 minutes. There is at least one and more often two 'beyond Skiptons' blocking for a similar time. You only need one freight blocking it for 4 minutes and you're up to 29 minutes. OK 29 minutes is 48% of an hour not 50%, but it's hardly a 'wild exaggeration'.


Typical rail-centric comments both. Railways are not the only (or even primary) means of transport, no matter how much we may like them. Having a gate down for this length of time is a bad thing and a consequence of no joined up thinking. No wonder we don't/can't have an integrated transport system.
 
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Smudger105e

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There's no need for sarcasm. I said I didn't condone it in my post, but you didn't read it did you? Either that or you ignored it so that you could dazzle us all with your rapier-like Wildean wit.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
.


I didn't read that as a dig at you, 4SRKT, but a dig at the impatience of the driver. Might be wrong though... :roll: ;)
 

IanD

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No excuse for being a prat, just sit in a line and wait. It must be terrible to be delayed for a whole 5 minutes. What is the world coming to that one must wait 5 minutes for a train to pass.

The answer is simple - pay for a bridge and the required infrastructre upgrades to increase line speed. Call it £30m - £40m. Or do you want to wait 5 minutes?

It is the same in Northallerton when the whole town can be sealed off by crossings but it isnt the end of the world.

There's already a bypass which has taken away a large percentage of the road traffic using the crossing. This bloke could have easily avoided the crossing if he didn't want to be held up.
 

4SRKT

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There's already a bypass which has taken away a large percentage of the road traffic using the crossing. This bloke could have easily avoided the crossing if he didn't want to be held up.

What if he was driving from Eastburn towards Skipton? Or coming from the Colne direction towards Keighley/Bradford and actually obeying the road signs? If everyone drove over the bridge in Cross Hills on Station Road rather than took the level crossing on the A6068 then there would be gridlock.

The 'mistake' in the past was developing the level crossing as the main A road once the A629 Airedale Trunk road was opened, rather than the bridge. I guess this was to do with loadings on the [fairly tight] bridge. At the time this was done the train service was much less frequent of course.
 

merlodlliw

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Lived in Bradford for 20 odd years too. We called it the Idle Cock, not sure what you called it!

The muppet wasn't trapped, he could have swerved round the barrier to get back on the correct side of the road. Can't believe how they all spend ages running around the tracks once the barriers were down.

Banned for 18 months? He'll be driving around as normal as soon as he leaves court.

Yes the Idle Cock.

Bob
 
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