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Please Get Rid of the Safety Screen !

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yorksrob

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Just a request for anyone in control of the public information screens at large(ish) stations.

I'm sick and tired of arriving at the platform with not much time to spare and wanting to find out whether it's the right train or not - only to find a page of safety information which is usually pretty anodyne such as "the doors close a minute before departure" or "smoking is not allowed anywhere on this station".

Please ! The screens are there to find out where the train's going. If this sort of drivel is so important, can they not put it on a poster somewhere ?

I was at Man Vic yesterday and had to wait through three screens before it actually told me where the train was going <D
 
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GB

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I'm sure people look at the screens more than they do posters so it seems an ideal place to put the safety notices. People then dont have the excuse of not seeing them.

If you cant spare 40 or 50 seconds then maybe you are cutting it too fine.
 

Schnellzug

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I'm sure people look at the screens more than they do posters so it seems an ideal place to put the safety notices. People then dont have the excuse of not seeing them.

If you cant spare 40 or 50 seconds then maybe you are cutting it too fine.

but does anyone take the slightest notice? Most of it is so pointless that there's no need for anyone to take any notice of it; everyone knows that thanks to Nanny, Smoking is Not Permitted anywhere at all, and no one takes any notice at all of Nanny telling you not to run or to tie their shoelaces or hold onto the handrail.
 

tsr

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Indeed, many stations do have posters with this information on them.

The problem in some other cases can be that there are several different screens and you don't know which one is going to display safety information, which one will show departures and which one will show disruptions. The small vinyl sticker above each screen may be inaccurate or, more likely, unreadable from a distance. You can spend valuable time hunting for information.

The problem with using screens to display safety and regulatory information (e.g. smoking information) is that there is absolutely no need to show this sort of thing in such a way. It's not like it will change more than a few times in as many years - so having a "safety screen", as opposed to a neatly organised bank of posters, is probably unnecessary. Dynamically-changing information should be displayed on the screens, and that's about it.

People who want to make a tight connection or quickly catch such-and-such a train do not really care about re-reading well-known rules, in general, anyway! Other rules can be displayed adequately on posters.
 

DaveNewcastle

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We really shouldn't imagine that these safety messages are there for our benefit at all.
They're not. They indicate risk-aversion.
These messages and notices are measures by the station's operators to reduce their exposure to the risk of Claims. I'm sure their insurer's wouldn't be happy in underwiting losses from slips, trips, falls, lost luggage etc if adequate measures hadn't been put in place to warn passengers and staff of the hazards and to transfer some responsibility to the individual for their own actions.

Perhaps if we hadn't become so culturally pre-occupied by 'our rights' and were more mindful of 'our responsibilities' then we might not have seen so many risk-averse notices and messages.
 

Greenback

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Down here, we have one screen on the platform, which rotates through a minimum of two screens in both Welsh and English, just to show the departures of the enxt four trains. When you add in the 'helpful' messages about taking care on the wet platforms, engineering work affecting weekend services, and all the other nonsense, you sometimes have to wait through 8 pages before the info that you want comes around.

It's not about cutting it fine and wasting time, it's just that it is extremely tedious and frustrating, so I agree with yorksrob - not that I would ever claim Llanelli is a large or largeish station!
 

Temple Meads

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Agreed, these safety screens should show real time running information of freight and non passengers services through the station for us railfans instead :p
 

yorksrob

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If you cant spare 40 or 50 seconds then maybe you are cutting it too fine.

Perhaps - sometimes. But then again, sometimes my train might turn up late for a tight connection. The point is - people need to know where the train's going, and quick.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Down here, we have one screen on the platform, which rotates through a minimum of two screens in both Welsh and English, just to show the departures of the enxt four trains. When you add in the 'helpful' messages about taking care on the wet platforms, engineering work affecting weekend services, and all the other nonsense, you sometimes have to wait through 8 pages before the info that you want comes around.

It's not about cutting it fine and wasting time, it's just that it is extremely tedious and frustrating, so I agree with yorksrob - not that I would ever claim Llanelli is a large or largeish station!

Indeed - having eight pages is definately a long way away from the actual purpose of the screens in the first place.
 

lincolnshire

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Perhaps - sometimes. But then again, sometimes my train might turn up late for a tight connection. The point is - people need to know where the train's going, and quick.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Indeed - having eight pages is definately a long way away from the actual purpose of the screens in the first place.

Very much agree with Yorksrob at Doncaster is so annoying when you get off a train and look at the departure screen to see its showing page 2 of 2 and seems to take an age to change over again, especially when your looking for your train and time is tight because you might be having to go to a far platform and if you miss one you then have to wait for another hour for the next one that stops at my station all because of a daft display screen.

At my own station we have nothing to tell us when the trains coming or not, no public address system, no notices telling us not to smoke on the platforms etc etc.
So how do we manage then?

When I get on the train should I stand in the doorway stopping the doors closing so that I can read the safety instructions first before sitting down in case I don,t like what I read as I might think its unsafe and want to get back off!
Yes the nanny state, how did we go on when we had trains with no corridors only compartments with doors that we could open ourselves at any time and windows you could look out, its a wonder we are all still living ?

Is it progress or not?
 

WatcherZero

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I always assumed my local ones were setup to always scroll four pages, when theres information its shown, when theirs nothing to display it uses the messages as 'filler'.
 

NY Yankee

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I agree that they should get rid of trivial announcements. (I apologise for going off topic) When I take the New York City subway, I often have to choose between the local and express. When the local arrives, I look at the countdown clock to decide whether to take the local or wait for the express. I hate seeing rubbish messages like "All bags are subject to search". I wish it simply displayed when the train would arrive.
 

route:oxford

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I really do wonder what the need is for signs at the entrance to buildings to indicate that it is illegal to smoke on the premises.

It isn't legal to smoke anywhere indoors, and legislation has been in place for many years now - so isn't it time to get rid of them?
 

Michael.Y

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I really do wonder what the need is for signs at the entrance to buildings to indicate that it is illegal to smoke on the premises.

It isn't legal to smoke anywhere indoors, and legislation has been in place for many years now - so isn't it time to get rid of them?

I was thinking this too when I was idly glancing round my vestibule the other day while waiting to depart HHD. Although, the smell of tobacco seeping through from under the toilet door with a ruddy great no-fagging symbol on it made me think otherwise.
 

tsr

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I was thinking this too when I was idly glancing round my vestibule the other day while waiting to depart HHD. Although, the smell of tobacco seeping through from under the toilet door with a ruddy great no-fagging symbol on it made me think otherwise.

Surely this is a good example of the well-known fact that the signs that should act as deterrents are frequently ignored by the culprits, and therefore, most of the time, the civilised and law-abiding members of the public are the only ones being "informed", when they're not the ones who need to be.

It appears to the cynic in me that the management committees of TOCs and ROSCOs (not to mention NR) are largely composed of signwriters who need to make a quick profit selling glorified sticky labels...
 

IanXC

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I really do wonder what the need is for signs at the entrance to buildings to indicate that it is illegal to smoke on the premises.

It isn't legal to smoke anywhere indoors, and legislation has been in place for many years now - so isn't it time to get rid of them?

The signs are part of the legislation which implemented the ban. I suspect the coalition would look favourably on a proposal to repeal this element of the act, as it would fit well with their aim to "reduce the burdens on business".

 

D1009

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Totally agree with the OP. Screens should be used to indicate information required immediately. I've been in Doncaster earlier today, and it seems every time I arrive at the station the departures screen is showing "page 2 of 2" and I have to wait for the info I want.
 

Aictos

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Thing is though the UK only really became a nanny state under the watchful direction of Blair and co, very much doubt there was many ambulance chasing lawyers prior to 1997.

My point being is now there is so many adverts shoved in our faces compared to pre 1997, is it any wonder TOCs feel the need to have these notices?
 

yorksrob

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My point being is now there is so many adverts shoved in our faces compared to pre 1997, is it any wonder TOCs feel the need to have these notices?

That's a fair point.

But surely just by having these messages on a poster elsewhere, the relevant authorities could cover their ars...... - sorry - discharge their responsibilities without disrupting the information screen.
 

DaveNewcastle

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Thing is though the UK only really became a nanny state under the watchful direction of Blair and co, very much doubt there was many ambulance chasing lawyers prior to 1997.

My point being is now there is so many adverts shoved in our faces compared to pre 1997, is it any wonder TOCs feel the need to have these notices?
I'm not a reliable commentator on political history, but your remarks seem absolutely consistent with my recollections! It seems that the zeitgeist of the 1990's was firmly a culture of individual responsibility for health, insurance, pension and other personal factors.
Without taking a personal stance on these political swings to and fro, I am surprised at the extent to which Companies now see the need to protect themselves against claimants, even Companies providing vital public services to claimants who simply can't travel from one place to another without wanting to find someone to blame at every inconvenience.

I'm not all surprised that TOCs are responding to claims from passengers, even when that response conflicts with established, proven and approved policies for on-board safe procedures.
 

SS4

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I'm not a reliable commentator on political history, but your remarks seem absolutely consistent with my recollections! It seems that the zeitgeist of the 1990's was firmly a culture of individual responsibility for health, insurance, pension and other personal factors.
Without taking a personal stance on these political swings to and fro, I am surprised at the extent to which Companies now see the need to protect themselves against claimants, even Companies providing vital public services to claimants who simply can't travel from one place to another without wanting to find someone to blame at every inconvenience.

I'm not all surprised that TOCs are responding to claims from passengers, even when that response conflicts with established, proven and approved policies for on-board safe procedures.

I don't remember much of the 1990s so I've only known a world where one could conceivably claim for anything and everything yet I really don't think the government of the day foresaw that making companies more accountable would lead to the proliferation of so-called ambulance chasers especially if what you say is true (and there is no reason not to)

I'm not surprised that NR or the TOCs are having to display these notices; after all complaints about their obvious superfluousness (that's a word? :idea:) can be brushed off unlike a case because they were not there and some scrote thicker than the proverbial short planks doesn't understand that platforms will be wet if it's raining
 

DaveNewcastle

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. . . after all complaints about their obvious superfluousness (that's a word?)
It is now!

I agree that TOC along with thousands of other public-facing Companies, are compelled by these example, to protect themselves against compensation claims.
Whatt many people on here who like finding weaknesses in TOC's regulations or policies don't always appreciate, is that some of these quite spurios claims for compensation can result in enormously costly changes to minimise future risks. Risks which might be a passenger's own stupidity or inability, but which an agressive Law Firm will attempt to convert into the TOC's responsibility.

That is the sad outcome of H&S becoming an instrument of attack.
 

Crossover

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I also agree completely with yorksrob....complete in the backside to turn up at a platform to find it on page 2 of 3 of complete rubbish for it to eventually get there to find you are looking at the screen for a different ruddy platform so have to start the process over!

Half of what is on it is about doors closing early (the stations are usually plastered with posters saying as much) and about luggage/security (which I got sick and tired of hearing at every TPE managed station I visited the other week)...indeed, scrap them and get back to giving useful information such as train running!

A good contender for "Room 101" I think :lol:
 

EM2

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Yes the nanny state, how did we go on when we had trains with no corridors only compartments with doors that we could open ourselves at any time and windows you could look out, its a wonder we are all still living ? Is it progress or not?
Except for the poor girl who was murdered in a compartment of an EPB in Penge Tunnel, or the two people who died at Cannon Street, also in an EPB. I'm sure there are other examples.
 

RichmondCommu

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Yes the nanny state, how did we go on when we had trains with no corridors only compartments with doors that we could open ourselves at any time and windows you could look out, its a wonder we are all still living ?

Is it progress or not?

Its progress! The good old nanny state means that people are no longer raped in compartments nor have their possessions stolen under the threat of violence. Or enter a compartment full of people who smell.

There is no need to look out of a window so why run the risk of having your head knocked off? And why have doors that you can open yourself when they could open at speed with potential fatal consequences?

Three cheers for the nanny state. Hip hip.....
 

WatcherZero

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Look at the 20,000 deaths a year on the Indian Railway network and tell me in the same situation our government shouldnt do something about it.
 

NSEFAN

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WatcherZero said:
Look at the 20,000 deaths a year on the Indian Railway network and tell me in the same situation our government shouldnt do something about it.

There's a difference between improving safety and mollycoddling the passengers; the former makes train travel better for all, whereas the latter is nothing more than backside-covering, as has been mentioned already. If anything it's an insult to the train designers to compare safer trains with no-smoking notices! :lol:

If an adult needs to be told that running on a wet surface is dangerous, then they aren't an adult yet and shouldn't be out on their own.
 

WatcherZero

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Who says its for the adult? Are all the no skateboarding and no rollerblades signs just for adults too?
All the wait behind the line announcements are just for those over eager 80 years olds who want to board first right?
 

Schnellzug

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Who says its for the adult? Are all the no skateboarding and no rollerblades signs just for adults too?
All the wait behind the line announcements are just for those over eager 80 years olds who want to board first right?

but no one takes any notice! That's the whole point! They're nothing to do with wanting to Protect people, because we care about you and we care about your safety. If a Corporate organisation did care about people, they might possibly treat them with a bit of respect (and let them have a bit of peace & quiet and not bombard them with nannying"May we have your attention please") rather than acting like the All-Purpose Nanny.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Look at the 20,000 deaths a year on the Indian Railway network and tell me in the same situation our government shouldnt do something about it.
The culture in India, as I'm sure you know, sees what we'd call trespassing on railway lines in a completely different way to the UK. Everyone walks along them, cooks meals next to them, herds goats along them ... are Safety Notices and "May we have your Attention please" likely to make the slightest difference?

* It's worth observing, incidentally, while this may be a bit of a Tangent, that attitudes towards Trespass seem to be rather more relaxed even in Germany; standing beside the track to photograph steam specials, for instance, with no hi viz vest anywhere in sight, seems to be quite tolerated.
 
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table38

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But if the security/smoking/wet platform messages are so vital, what happens if I look at the screen, it happens to be on Page 1 of 1, I head off to my platform, and I therefore don't get to see the vital security/smoking/wet platform messages...

(Which makes me agree with the OP that these vital messages should be displayed elsewhere!)
 

hairyhandedfool

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....Please ! The screens are there to find out where the train's going. If this sort of drivel is so important, can they not put it on a poster somewhere ?....

How many times have you seen people read the safety notices on trains? Very few I'd wager. How many of the rest would know what to do in an emergency? Or where to find the emergency equipment?

The screens may just be telling people what they already know, but it is the place where most people will see it.
 
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