Level crossing stupidity...

[Michael Hodgson]

4 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

My own town's High Street, although on a direct route between two bigger towns, has bends in it for no good reason that I can see!! Just the way things developed over a very long period of time!!

 

"Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,

The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.

A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,

And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;

A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread

The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head."        (G K Chesterton)

[ikks]

On 22/01/2024 at 02:49, Hobby said:

And mainly in the USA with a few Australian ones thrown in, the only recent one I can think of in the UK was that one at Brockenhurst a few years ago. Without the US and Aussie posts this thread would be dead!

 

Is it just those two countries where stupidity at level crossings predominate or are there similar incidents in, for instance, Mainland Europe?

We bought our place in South Australia in June 2001 whilst living in Victoria and weren't able through employment obligations to move there until Jan 2002 which meant a considerable number of journeys between the two places in the meantime. The highway for quite a lot of the way runs parallel withe railway sometimes close sometimes not. In approximately   730 km  there are many side roads off the highway most of them dirt leading to to small communities, in the main the countryside is such that that the line is visible for a long way before the crossing, if commonsense was applied (by the road users), these issues could be avoided.

[corneliuslundie]

Having seen that I make no apologies for causing a deviation. A wonderful film to see.

Jonathan

[Siberian Snooper]

2 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

If train simulation programs are anything to go by, many rural American routes seem to have crossings every mile or so, often ungated. Or at least they used to since most routes are historic.

And of course as has been mentioned previously there is still the problem in a number of cities and towns of the railway line running up the main street. I don't think we have had that problem in the UK for many years, probably since early tramways were converted to proper railways. A late example in south Wales was Argoed where the tramway had run up the high street and was converted to a siding serving the goods yard when the "proper" railway was built. But there are plenty of photos of south Wales villages with a tramway in the main road outside the houses. A slight diversion but it illustrates how one gets to the undesirable situation in many American towns. If the railway is not in the main street it often has a road parallel on either side, with level crossings at intervals.

Jonathan

 

In some places every few hundred yards, I have travelled most of the major routes in the states and sometimes the loco horn seems to go on for ages, especially near large towns, day or night.

 

The noisy railway complainers over here would probably have concussion from banging their heads against the wall,you certainly won't get any sympathy over there. 

 

 

[Wickham Green too]

3 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

... Rather the opposite to the UK where towns & villages were in existence for hundreds of years before railways were invented, ...

The nucleus of many towns, maybe - but the British population has more than doubled since 1830. While that doesn't directly relate to a proportional growth in built area, of course, very little expansion has been in anything resembling a grid-pattern.

[Hobby]

When I made the comment it was specifically about people driving onto crossings and then turning onto the tracks.

 

As I said I've seen plenty of evidence of that in the USA and some in Aus but apart from that one incident a few years back at Brockenhurst I can't remember many in the UK, certainly not recently, and I've not seen any evidence of it happening a lot over the Channel. Russia i could understand after seeing a programme of dash cams from over there!

[corneliuslundie]

That is often because of existing property boundaries centuries old, usually based on field boundaries, whereas in the USA they were starting with a clean sheet and the developer 9usually the railway) owned all the land.

Jonathan

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Hobby said:

When I made the comment it was specifically about people driving onto crossings and then turning onto the tracks.

 

As I said I've seen plenty of evidence of that in the USA and some in Aus

Don't recall any such examples in Australia, not saying that it doesn't happen.

[Hobby]

I thought some of the videos were in Australia, but I could well be mistaken, they do look similar in many cases! So it's a peculiarly US trait...

[62613]

On 19/01/2024 at 11:11, peanuts said:

"Open both gates and cross quickly" 

Is that you, mate?

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Hobby said:

I thought some of the videos were in Australia, but I could well be mistaken, they do look similar in many cases! So it's a peculiarly US trait...

This level crossing had the tragic deaths of a couple of older ladies, who got caught in the middle when the boom gates went down. But they didn't attempt to go the 'wrong way'. Now 2 level crossings have gone and 2 stations, replaced by one.

 

https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/level-crossing-removal-project/projects/union-road-surrey-hills

 

A look around the site reveals how much work is going on, mostly removal of level crossings in the Melbourne Metro area. Most are SkyRail, but not all.

 

I think you'll find that the USA has far more level crossings, in busier locations than Australia, so mistakes/deliberate actions happen more often. US has more than 10 times the population, in roughly the same area.

[IWCR]

A  US  problem  is  that  many  trains  are  relatively  slow  and  often  very  long,  there  is  always  a  temptation  to  beat  the  train  to  a  crossing  or  your  stuck  there  for  some  time.  In  urban  areas  with  faster  trains  this  is  not  a  good  idea.

If  you  look  at  videos  intended  to  give  Americans  some  advice  on  driving in  europe  there  is  emphasis  on  NEVER  try  and  beat  the  train.  European  trains  can  and  do  run  at  100mph+

 

Pete

[alastairq]

14 hours ago, Hobby said:

When I made the comment it was specifically about people driving onto crossings and then turning onto the tracks.

 

As I said I've seen plenty of evidence of that in the USA and some in Aus but apart from that one incident a few years back at Brockenhurst I can't remember many in the UK, certainly not recently, and I've not seen any evidence of it happening a lot over the Channel. Russia i could understand after seeing a programme of dash cams from over there!

I recall witnessing such an event at Quay Road crossing, Bridlington, back in both the 70's and the later 80's....Both cars....I believe both got as far as the signal box, before suffering the inevitable abuse from the signalman [person]...

I would have been driving a bus at the time, so couldn't hang around to see the outcome, but I believe no trains were harmed during either exercise...

[Ohmisterporter]

In those days they couldn't even blame the sat nav.

[peanuts]

2 hours ago, 62613 said:

Is that you, mate?

Saddly not this time Bro never got to co drive a shuvit 

[alastairq]

13 minutes ago, Ohmisterporter said:

In those days they couldn't even blame the sat nav.

 I personally believe the incidents were down to the unfortunate siting of the sign informing one of the railway station location?

The side road ''Station Approach'' was immediately before the crossing [from the 'town' side]...and the side road, ''Station Avenue' was immediately after the crossing [on the old town side]..

Both would have been signed showing the location of the railway station....

The crossings were of the lifting barrier type [not gates]....

Another incident I recall witnessing, [as a bus driver] occurred when a cyclist rode to the front of the queue, inadvertently squeezing his front wheel between the verticals of the curtain barrier underneath the pole...

Don't you all know that feeling when witnessing the advent of someone's impending doom, not being able, or willing, to do anything about it?

Yup, the train passed, the barriers started to lift, the cyclist was deposited over his back wheel, and the pushbike sedately rose up to a considerable height, dangling by its front wheel.

I perhaps recall a certain amount of uncertainty about proceeding. Maybe I wanted to see out the drama [bored?]? Maybe because I was driving a double decker, I wasn't too sure my roof would clear the dangling  bicycle? [Imagine the insurance claim form? Especially when answering the question concerning whereabouts on the bus did the cycle hit? I don't think saying ''top deck front window'' would be taken as anything but me taking the wee wee?]

In any event, I can only imagine the back & forth between the signalman and whoever went to tell him of the incident...and could he bring the barriers back down again, to retrieve the pushbike?

 

Indeed, life ''on the buses'' was always full of these wee amusing events..often regaled later in the crew mess room....

 

Indeed, one of the conductors was, at the time, writing a journal of memoirs of a bus conductor, filled with accounts of all the amusing events that happened on an almost daily basis.  A heady mix of general public, and traffic produces all sorts when out & about  in it all, 24/7.

[Dagworth]

On 21/01/2024 at 16:19, Hobby said:

And mainly in the USA with a few Australian ones thrown in, the only recent one I can think of in the UK was that one at Brockenhurst a few years ago. Without the US and Aussie posts this thread would be dead!

 

Is it just those two countries where stupidity at level crossings predominate or are there similar incidents in, for instance, Mainland Europe?

One in Yorkshire week before last. A friend sent me a shot of the car on the track on the crossing CCTV. Members of the public pushed it back onto the road before the old Bill arrived 

 

Andi

[roythebus1]

There's plenty of instances in Europe, especially the eastern countries. Belgium seem to have a lot. of level crossing incdents i the clips on FB are to be believed.

[Hobby]

@roythebus1 Perhaps worth posting them, it'll make a change from US and Australian ones!

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, roythebus1 said:

There's plenty of instances in Europe, especially the eastern countries. Belgium seem to have a lot. of level crossing incdents i the clips on FB are to be believed.

Yes well, Belgium didn't have driving tests until 1960.

[Ken.W]

On 24/01/2024 at 11:14, Michael Hodgson said:

Yes well, Belgium didn't have driving tests until 1960.

 

I sometimes wonder whether we still do

[seraphim]

On 23/01/2024 at 12:28, alastairq said:

 Don't you all know that feeling when witnessing the advent of someone's impending doom, not being able, or willing, to do anything about it?

Yup, the train passed, the barriers started to lift, the cyclist was deposited over his back wheel, and the pushbike sedately rose up to a considerable height, dangling by its front wheel.

 

 

As a youth, a favourite train-spotting location was Hest Bank crossing, on the shores of Morecombe Bay. One day, a lady walking a small dog was stopped at the (frequently) lowered barriers. She choses not to use the footbridge. Instead, she ties the dog's lead to the barrier, and watches the train pass. You can guess the rest...

 

[PhilJ W]

39 minutes ago, seraphim said:

 

As a youth, a favourite train-spotting location was Hest Bank crossing, on the shores of Morecombe Bay. One day, a lady walking a small dog was stopped at the (frequently) lowered barriers. She choses not to use the footbridge. Instead, she ties the dog's lead to the barrier, and watches the train pass. You can guess the rest...

 

Luckily the baby was snatched clear before the buggy was lifted into the air.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8318949.baby-snatched-clear-as-pushchair-hoisted-by-railway-barrier-in-poole/

[25kV]

1 hour ago, seraphim said:

 

As a youth, a favourite train-spotting location was Hest Bank crossing, on the shores of Morecombe Bay. One day, a lady walking a small dog was stopped at the (frequently) lowered barriers. She choses not to use the footbridge. Instead, she ties the dog's lead to the barrier, and watches the train pass. You can guess the rest...

 

I recall seeing portions of chips being sent skyward on sunny Saturdays from the same barriers after a three-train lowering.

[corneliuslundie]

"A study revealed the red lights had been jumped a staggering 3,000 times during one 10-day period."

From that report of the buggy in the barrier.

There must be more stupid people than I ever imagined.

Jonathan