Level Crossing Training

[TwoZeroAlpha]

It's dark, so you've got headlights on, you drive up to a strange gate blocking the road and see a sign instructing you what to do. It doesn't take a genius or any huge amount of deductive power to realise that you are on a train track, just open your eyes ffs. I have no sympathy for her whatsoever, infact I would revoke her licence and make her re-test. Same with all the other sat-nav idiots.

[witch]

(and ban wearing of pork pie hats in cars since I'm sure there is a relationship between wearing of said hats and overly slow and obstructive driving!)

 

My father used to say this and now the whole family watch out for men who wear hats whilst driving. There certainly does seem to be some correlation between hat-wearing and standard of driving.

[Andrew_C]

I suppose in the dark, train tracks could easily be mistaken..

Only by a complete moron who shouldn't be allowed to drive; EVER!

[Guest Guest]

My father used to say this and now the whole family watch out for men who wear hats whilst driving. There certainly does seem to be some correlation between hat-wearing and standard of driving.

 

Theres also a correation between willy size and standard of driving. BMW and 4x4 drivers in their willy replacement cars. As size decreases, standards decrease too, so far that the worst drivers are those with no willy at all

[RinSewand]

I wish my car had a rocket launcher to remove the middle and right lane hogs that get in my way (when the other lanes are empty). It drives me mad - and they sit there pottering along oblivious to the queue of angry drivers behind them!

 

Or to remove the woman driving in the outside lane at 50mph while her son climed between the front passenger seat, the rear seats, and the boot... who didn't notice the rangerover sport undertaking her, nor the 5 series bmw undertaking her, or me sitting behind her flashing my headlights at her (i know you're not ment to do this, but I was more than a little annoyed at this point having been sat there for the best part of 4 miles. It took her another 2 miles to move over, and she was obviously oblivious.

 

It was to the point that had I had a hands-free kit, or a passenger, I'd have rung her in...

[CAM]

Rail travel has seen huge boosts to safety since the Railtrack days. Though I noticed a lot of the train accidents recently involved cars in some way or another and no surprise looking at the level crossing videos. The only way to fully prevent accidents at crossings will be to slow the speed of trains down significantly as they pass over them but that will begin to cause delays and timetable changes. Alternatively, more bridges or tunnels where road and rail crosses.

 

There is no excuse for jumping a crossing light though. If you approach a crossing you slow down regardless. I do less then 30MPH over crossings to prevent damage to my vehicle from the rails and it keeps me prepared to stop should the lights come on as I approach. That instructor needs a good slap with a highway code book.

[enjay]

There certainly does seem to be some correlation between hat-wearing and standard of driving.

 

My uncle made a similar observation when he routinely started wearing a hat, always making sure he took it off before driving anywhere!

 

I think that another heavily contributory factor to accidents is tiredness - I see far more people doing Something Stupid ™ on the way to work than I do on the way home. I wonder if cars could be rigged to not start until you've been awake for an hour? Lots of accidents happen within a mile of people's homes too, presumably because they're either not concentrating on driving yet, or in their minds, they've already got home and are planning their evening rather than watching the road around them.

 

A major-ish road near me has pedestrian crossings along it, and it is worrying how many people stop in the traffic and then don't notice that the crossing has gone red, so merrily pull away through the red light when the traffic moves on.

 

Unfortunately, all of this comes down to concentration, and you can't teach people to do that.

 

I don't think I would want to see level crossing questions become compulsory though, unless the test got bigger to accommodate them. With only 50 questions, or whatever it is, there are more important things than level crossings - you can go for years without ever seeing a level crossing, after all.

[SteveBentley]

Maybe it would focus minds more if level crossings had regular traffic lights rather than the flashing variety?

[Number6]

Maybe it would focus minds more if level crossings had regular traffic lights rather than the flashing variety?

 

It just needs proper gates that close a good while before the train actually arrives, not stupid half-width barriers that come down about ten secconds before the train arrives and that allow cars to dodge around / under them while they're closing.

 

And to echo an earlier post, anyone who doesn't recognise a level crossing whether gated, ungated, automatic or manual is an airheaded moron. Likewise anyone who totally relies on satnav to guide them anywhere and follows it slavishly.

[rad]

Where in London is there a said Level Crossing? Probably one, where all the Learner Drivers will be shortly. Seriously, I only know of a few, and most of those are leading to Farmers homes etc, as for the driving test, its getting harder anyway without confusing the buggers even more.

[CAM]

West Barnes Lane near Motspur Park has two.

Google Maps

[torledo]

I dunno, there may be some merit to the proposals!

 

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | South West Wales | Sat nav driver's car hit by train

 

put my complete trust in the sat nav and it led me right into the path of a speeding train

 

that could be a parable of our times. LOL

[webman]

This crossing is on Google Street View:

 

Ffynongain - Google Maps

 

For those who want to assess the signage

[enjay]

For those who want to assess the signage

 

I'm actually sad enough to have clicked on that link! And sad enough to notice that the crossing is only signed from one direction.

 

And sad enough to post back on here about this!!

 

The signs could be better though - one could be forgiven for thinking they were being warned about the gate, not the trains...

[Andrew_C]

The signs could be better though - one could be forgiven for thinking they were being warned about the gate, not the trains...

It has lights, it has "Stop" signs, and if you look the other way, there is a tractor in the lane!

[Batman]

I'm actually sad enough to have clicked on that link! And sad enough to notice that the crossing is only signed from one direction.

 

Wrong! There are signs in both directions, what are you talking about?

[tmcd35]

Wrong! There are signs in both directions, what are you talking about?

 

There are signs for lorries to be careful of a bump in the road on both sides. The warning triangle for a level crossing ahead is only on one side.

 

Still. Even at 20 past mid-night with your car headlights off it's pretty damn obvious that is a level crossing. If nothing else the gates are a pretty good giveaway.

[Guest Guest]

tbf shes not quite as stupid as i first thought. Ive never seen a crossing like that before, and if i was properly out in the sticks like that with only some piece of shat sat nav id probably be abit worked up. Id certainly hope id realise its a crossing mind!

 

But then again i know a lass who turned off a roundabout and went 100 yards before she realised she was on a foot/cyclepath - you know the ones with the raised footpath side!!! Im not sure what she was thinking what with the car being just slightly tilted!

[enjay]

Wrong! There are signs in both directions, what are you talking about?

 

No there aren't; Stop signs and the lorry grounding one appear on both sides, but the crossing sign (the gate) is only on one side. Either way, I would have thought you'd notice soon enough that you're driving down train tracks.

[powdarrmonkey]

The red circle indicating a level crossing is on both gates. That should be enough to tell any driver it's an LC, and the only way you could fail to see it is to drive without any headlights on.

 

As for the rest of the arrangement, the big enclosing gates, traffic lights, stop signs and general "this is an important place" should be a pretty good clue that you're not on normal road any more. Then when you have to get out and walk to the edge of the tracks in the process of opening the gate... well...

Edited March 15, 2010 by powdarrmonkey

[cbeeching]

The red circle indicating a level crossing is on both gates. That should be enough to tell any driver it's an LC, and the only way you could fail to see it is to drive without any headlights on.

 

As for the rest of the arrangement, the big enclosing gates, traffic lights, stop signs and general "this is an important place" should be a pretty good clue that you're not on normal road any more. Then when you have to get out and walk to the edge of the tracks in the process of opening the gate... well...

 

Qft!

 

Seriously, maybe there could be a big Las Vegas style sign 'LEVEL CROSSING HERE! Ensure common sense is installed!'

[mossj]

Qft!

 

Seriously, maybe there could be a big Las Vegas style sign 'LEVEL CROSSING HERE! Ensure common sense is installed!'

 

Why not? darwins law isn't allowed to take effect, anywhere else in life...