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Level Crossing Near Misses







champion7

fast and furious
Feb 12, 2007
2,214
Benfield Heights
showthread.php
 






The Spanish

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2008
6,478
P
why is there this current obsession with level crossings? Radio adverts and everything now. I dont believe for a minute that 8 billion people get stuck on level crossings every day like they are making out, and Britain is one great big constant 24 hour Buster Keaton sketch. These figures are bollocks.

Someone powerful at Network Rail has obviously had a bad dream one night and become obsessed.

I remember as a kid there was a Bernard Cribbins (?) Anti Getting Stuck on Level Crossings Campaign which I thought was an unlikely scenario even then, sitting on the rug waiting for Playaway to start.
 








SpidersLegs

Member
Feb 2, 2007
388
Here & there
why is there this current obsession with level crossings? Radio adverts and everything now. I dont believe for a minute that 8 billion people get stuck on level crossings every day like they are making out, and Britain is one great big constant 24 hour Buster Keaton sketch. These figures are bollocks.

Someone powerful at Network Rail has obviously had a bad dream one night and become obsessed.

I remember as a kid there was a Bernard Cribbins (?) Anti Getting Stuck on Level Crossings Campaign which I thought was an unlikely scenario even then, sitting on the rug waiting for Playaway to start.
You talk absolute bollocks mate. I work on the railway in the department that maintains level crossings. The amount of time we attend incidents at crossings where drivers have had near misses with trains or knocked the barriers off completly is ridiculous. Beddingham was the worst before it got taken out.
 




British Bulldog

The great escape
Feb 6, 2006
10,967
Beddingham was the worst before it got taken out.

That place was a bloody nightmare, I used to hate going down there to work the barriers on local control. I remember being there one night when some idiot in a 4x4 decided to take a left turn at the crossing straight up the railway line, Another foot and he'd have hit the live rail.
 


Big G

New member
Dec 14, 2005
1,086
Brighton
You talk absolute bollocks mate. I work on the railway in the department that maintains level crossings. The amount of time we attend incidents at crossings where drivers have had near misses with trains or knocked the barriers off completly is ridiculous. Beddingham was the worst before it got taken out.

Well said that man. Made the transfer to BTP about 5 years ago and as someone who has to clear up the aftermath if these people don't make it over the crossing he has no idea of what its like or how common it is for people to chance their luck and fail. Maybe he should take the body bag and pick up the bits and go round and tell the family afterwards.......!
 


Harty

New member
Jul 7, 2003
1,759
Sussex
Many years ago when I was training as an undertaker down in Portsmouth had to look after a victim of this stupid practice, what a waste of a young life.
 






British Bulldog

The great escape
Feb 6, 2006
10,967
Disagree. If people are stupid enough to jump level crossings or run across when a train's coming then frankly we're better off without them. We shouldn't waste public money on morons like this.

When you've dealt with a death at a level crossing then come back and say that again.
 






clapham_gull

Legacy Fan
Aug 20, 2003
25,721
When you've dealt with a death at a level crossing then come back and say that again.

I couldn't watch it to honest.

Do you remember the very very bad storm a few years ago the really bad one.

Not only having to avoid the trees falling down whilst driving home, there was a malfunction on a level crossing in between Burwash and Stonegate. Basically the trains were running through but the barriers were fixed in an upfront position with the red lights constantly flashing.

( Is is technically possibly these days for trains to run through in such situations....)

Anyway, the level crossing there is nasty, because coming down onto it, the track left and right is completely invisible since the track cuts through the bottom of a hill.

I had to get out of my car, walk towards the track, look both ways to check a train wasn't coming and then run back to the car and get over the thing like the Dukes of Hazzard.

I've had nightmares about it ever since.
 




British Bulldog

The great escape
Feb 6, 2006
10,967
I couldn't watch it to honest.

Do you remember the very very bad storm a few years ago the really bad one.

Not only having to avoid the trees falling down whilst driving home, there was a malfunction on a level crossing in between Burwash and Stonegate. Basically the trains were running through but the barriers were fixed in an upfront position with the red lights constantly flashing.

( Is is technically possibly these days for trains to run through in such situations....)

Anyway, the level crossing there is nasty, because coming down onto it, the track left and right is completely invisible since the track cuts through the bottom of a hill.

I had to get out of my car, walk towards the track, look both ways to check a train wasn't coming and then run back to the car and get over the thing like the Dukes of Hazzard.

I've had nightmares about it ever since.

If the barriers have failed in the up position as long as the red flashing lights are working I can send a train over the crossing, one thing road user's dont understand is you do not cross against the red flashing lights under any circumstances, Even the police no longer have the authority to let road traffic go against the red flashing lights.
 


clapham_gull

Legacy Fan
Aug 20, 2003
25,721
If the barriers have failed in the up position as long as the red flashing lights are working I can send a train over the crossing, one thing road user's dont understand is you do not cross against the red flashing lights under any circumstances, Even the police no longer have the authority to let road traffic go against the red flashing lights.

I understand very fully now - Cheers.
 




Dover

Home at Last.
Oct 5, 2003
4,474
Brighton, United Kingdom
For anyone that feels level crossings are an inconvenience, can they please be directed to the Top Gear film. Although staged it showed the sheer power of an engine slamming into a car.

Clarkson made light of the film, but I felt this only emphasised the banality of all road users when jumping level crossings.


Having read the rubbish above, here's the link.

top gear level crossing - Google Search
 
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If the barriers have failed in the up position as long as the red flashing lights are working I can send a train over the crossing, one thing road user's dont understand is you do not cross against the red flashing lights under any circumstances, Even the police no longer have the authority to let road traffic go against the red flashing lights.
Living next to a level crossing, I have seen dozens of occasions when the crossing gates fail in the DOWN position and motorists seem to imagine it's perfectly safe to ignore the flashing red lights and zig zag through the gates.

But hey! they are motorists and are entitled to get to their destination as quickly as they want. At least I think that's what it says in their version of the Highway Code.
 


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