Vehicle accident news
17/12/2009

Level crossing accidents lead to action call

With 11 motorists and pedestrians having been killed, nine collisions involving a car and a train and 104 recorded near-miss walker and vehicle accidents in the first 11 months of 2009, the UK rail regulator is calling for the courts to impose greater penalties on drivers who jump level crossings.

In an effort to reduce train accidents and car crashes with their consequent personal injury, The Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail are calling for drivers to be liable to be prosecuted for dangerous driving if they ignore the warning signals at crossing gates. Currently, the penalty for such behaviour is a £60 fine and three points on the driver's licence.

A Network Rail spokesman said the greatest chance of a catastrophe was for a train to be derailed by a car crash on a level crossing.

"There is stuff we can do to reduce the risk, but, ultimately, this is a road issue and motorists who take a chance are a danger to themselves and others."

Backing the call to reduce the possibility of train and accidents, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety Robert Gifford said, "The main violators at level crossings are car drivers and road users. While lowering the speed of the train may be attractive, it is dealing with the symptom and not the cause. It is more important to tackle the behaviour of road users through enforcement, engineering and education than to disrupt the rail network."