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19/06/2009
By EWAN KENNEDY
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 I received an interesting email from a regular reader this morning, let's call him Tony. He was saddened by the memories of the Kerang level-crossing crash in 2007 which killed 11 people and seriously injured eight more. Memories that were brought back by the recent trial and acquittal of truck driver involved in the crash.
Tony brought up an interesting idea, which, coincidentally I've had myself over the years, but haven’t followed up on my thoughts, until now.
He feels that if conventional traffic lights were used at railway level crossings instead of the flashing red lights currently in use, drivers would see them and react to them more readily. His reasoning being that all drivers are totally tuned into normal traffic lights, sometimes seeing them dozens, even hundreds, of times each day.
I certainly agree with his argument. Today’s drivers are probably tuned into traffic lights in an almost subconscious manner. Seeing them from a distance, but not giving them their full attention until they are close enough for the green light to be regarded as ‘stale’ and likely to change at any second. This is a handy instinct to have developed.
However, a lot of rail level crossings are in country areas and the drivers’ minds may have switched off any expectations of seeing conventional traffic lights. The red flashing lights at level crossings are probably easier to see, they are larger, and the sheer nature of their flashing should make them stand out even more than normal traffic lights.
Then there are the fortunate people who live in smaller towns in the bush and who can go for months, even years on end without seeing a normal set of traffic lights. I do feel jealous of them, there is an annoying set of lights near my place that seem to take about five minutes to cycle through to the green I'm impatiently waiting for...
These fortunate country folks may not have the same ‘tuning-in’ instincts to spot traffic lights at a glance as do suburban dwellers.
On the subject of flashing lights, I've noticed that those red strobe-type lights used by bike riders at nights really jump to my attention at much greater distances than those that flash at ‘normal’ speed. Perhaps they could be investigated as part of the road/rail safety future?
Then there's the problem that some country rail lines carry so few trains that regular users of the crossings are taken by sometimes by surprise when there is a train, leading to dreadfully tragic consequences such as that caused by the Kerang truck-train crash.
Of course, the ultimate answer to rail crossings is to eliminate them altogether. Replaced them with bridges, tunnels or whatever is appropriate in individual areas. But that's expensive, extremely expensive in some areas as level crossings are most frequently found when the ground on which they are built is very flat. So hundreds of metres of construction are required to raise the road to safely separate it from the train tracks.
The current global financial crisis is making it hard enough for governments to find enough money for regular maintenance, yet alone huge projects like new bridges.
Though, come to think of it, wouldn’t new construction work like this help to employ worthwhile people? People who I'm sure would rather work on potential life saving work than live off the dole while frustratingly applying for job after job after job.
ewan@marque.com.au
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