Danger and Safety On Level Crossings For Cars, Lorries, Trains and Pedestrians

I hate level crossings. We have a few in London, England. When I lived in the USA we went to stay for a night at a large hotel on the East Coast. I remember sitting at breakfast and reading about the rich family who had founded the Wyeth art collection and the hotel and probably much of the town. Unfortunately one of the prominent members of the family was killed on the railway level crossing. I thought it was a freak accident. Within the next few weeks a similar accident happened nearby.

I then discovered that the railway line ran parallel to the coast the the coastal road with dozens of level crossings. The high speed trains ran up and down the line at great speed. mLots of accidents.

In the UK we have also had accidents. More often pedestrians.

A favourite question is, "What would you do if you ruled the world?" I would make all train and road crossings into traffic lights. The train has to stop completely - at every crossing.

So do the cars. You have to stop a few yards back from the barrier. The double barrier should be on both sides of the road before the actual crossing. A gap both sides should enable you as a driver to move off the crossing if caught.

The train should only move over the crossing if a sensor shows the crossing is empty. Yes, it would cost the train company a lot of money. So does building a railway. So does having the line out of action for a few hours or days until the accident is cleared. What about the cost of replacing the train, re=training another driver, the cost of compensating the family of the driver, the injured passengers, the pedestrians, or car driver. Does the cost of the insurance go up or down with the accidents?

When I lived in Rockville, Maryland, swimming pools in my area had barriers the height of tennis courts, lockable gates, and two lifeguards on duty. It was a local legal requirement and linked into an insurance requirement.

If you could not insure your train and train driver unless you adapted all railway crossings, it would be done. You would either make safer crossings, or build bridges for pedestrians, or sucked roads tunnelling under the road. Yes it would take time and money. Have you seen the length of the bridges over the sea off the East coast of the USA? And the banks with raised roads in The Netherlands? And the long bridges linking islands off Malaysia to the mainland? And the tunnels in the USA and Switzerland? Roman viaducts across valleys? The Channel tunnel? When somebody wants to complete a project, eventually the money is found, the workers are found, the plans are made, and it gets done. You might need legislation, government funding. It can be done and it should be done.

What has inspired my rant? A video. Watch it and you will be as shocked as I was. The barriers come down either side of a truck in America. The truck is smashed. The driver is lucky to be alive. Three train passengers died and the driver lost his legs. If you have any connection with insurance or government or journalism, please campaign to get safety improved.


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.