It’s the question raised by ILCAD (International Level Crossing Awareness Day) during the conference of 9 June 2011:

There is no doubt that the train is the safest form of land transportation. It is when then adds to this the direct interfaces with other forms of transport that the operational risks for rail increase. The interface between road and rail at level crossings is one of the most significant risks and one that the rail sector is not able to control without support from other key players.
Level crossings are an inherently easy way for people to cross the railway and are completely safe if the rules are followed by those using them. It is these users neglecting traffic rules at level crossings that not only put themselves at risk but also people travelling or working on trains. It is statistically clear that most of the accidents that occur at level crossings are caused by road users and pedestrians mainly because of their misbehaviour.
That is why it is so important to highlight this issue and bring these risks to the attention of level crossing users and make them aware of the risks they run by not taking care. This is of course not a problem that can be uniquely addressed by the rail community, it has to be handled as one of shared concern amongst several players, including the road and rail sectors, police forces, road users and those with responsibility for licensing those users as well as with pedestrians including cyclists.
It is a general misconception that level crossings are a rail problem when in fact it has always been and remains very much an interface between two modes and each has its role to play.
It would be quite easy for those companies responsible for rail infrastructure and national safety authorities to simply engineer-out the problem by closing level crossings. This is of course not a realistic solution for a number of economic reasons.
As with any risk situation it is far better to get to the root of the problem and develop a campaign of education of the users and the partners on the other side of the interface so that people are learning to appreciate the risks and respecting the traffic rules. Changing the behavioural approach will decrease the number of accidents at level crossings.
It is as a significant contribution to this educational approach that ILCAD was born. The International Level Crossing Awareness Day on 9 June 2011 focuses on educational measures and the promotion of safe behaviour at and around level crossings.
It is built around a range of national events held jointly at various locations in every participating country; focussed on a common message of “Act safely at level crossings!” In addition to regular or permanent activities held throughout the year, many special communication actions have been planned throughout the world: flyers handed out at level crossings, in schools, driving schools, to scouts. Posters will be displayed in railway stations and other central places, the video “Just in time” (funded by the European Commission) will be shown on screens in railway stations and on the internet and there will be special messages broadcast on radio and television as well as at press conferences organised with national and local press.

Finally UIC/ILCAD have been granted the use of the logo of the UN-ECE global Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 as part of many other road safety initiatives using the motto: “Together we can save millions of lives”

DID YOU KNOW?
1. that according to article 18 of the UN-ECE Vienna Convention, rail has priority at the interface with road and that road users and pedestrians have to respect the road signage and stop when requested – regrettably this respect is not always present this rather too often causes accidents.
2. that trains can weigh several hundred tonnes and some in excess of 1000 tonnes and that the distance for a train to be able to stop can be as much as 10 times higher that for a car.
3. that apart from the obvious physical damage caused by a road vehicle crashing into a train at a level crossing, there are also psychological, social and financial consequences including, loss of a family member, post-traumatic effects on the train driver, train passengers, witnesses, victims not forgetting the system disruption and the train and road traffic delays…

You can find detailed information on good practices and educational material designed to highlight the issue of misbehaviour at and around level crossings by consulting the dedicated website www.ilcad.org

Today, it’s the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD). The video before is part of the campain to increase awareness that the most of the victims related to railways are… road users! So, please, act safely at level crossing!

Despite all the measures taken to indicate the presence of level crossings and make them safe, too many road users and pedestrians are killed or injured at such crossings each year around the world. Almost all accidents at level crossings are due to road users failing to observe mandatory stop lights, signals and basic traffic safety rules. Contrary to what is generally thought, most accidents involve “regulars”, in particular those living near and/or making regular use of a level-crossing, as familiarity habit makes them less careful or more reckless, which may prove fatal.

In order to reduce these accidents, countries are making efforts to remove level crossings. This is, however, a long-term undertaking because there are still hundreds of thousands of level crossings in the world and removing them involves huge costs and relatively long study and implementation times.

This is why education of road users ans pedestrians remains key and imperative to reduce level crossing accidents.

On 22 June 2010, the rail and road sector in more than 40 countries worldwide are organising together the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) to make people understand that these accidents could be avoided if they obey the traffic rules and are aware of the danger of risky behaviors at level crossings.

The International Level Crossing Awareness Day focuses on educational measures and the promotion of safe behavior at and around level crossings. It is built on existing national events which will be held jointly at various locations in every participating country on 22nd June 2010 and constructed around the common message “Act safely at level crossings!”. In addition to regular or permanent activities held throughout the year, many special communications actions have been planned across the 5 continents: fleyers handed out at level crossings, in schools, driving schools, scouting clubs etc., posters will be displayed in railway stations, on trains and other central places, special messages will be broadcast on radio, television and led screens in railway stations, press conferences will be organised with national and local press.

In addition the European Commission totally financed a video clip showing a bad behavior at a level crossing to aware the public, particularly the road users and pedestrians on the dangers at and around level crossings. This video is avalaible in English and may be used by all ILCAD campaign partners free of charge on internet worldwide, and free of charge in Europe only on tv, cinemas, screens in train stations or aboard trains and on internet and on internet worldwide. All partners in the campaign will upload the video on their own website, sometimes only in English or with the official logo and the motto in their own language.

Automotive best practices affect more and more rolling stock, especially considering the EN 15227 standard for crashworthiness used in Europe. Maybe in the next future crash homologation undertaken on full scale vehicles will be an everyday practice in railway industry. MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) proposes itself as a leader on this field providing a public demonstration of its technical expertise last May. Following you’ll find the press release of the event together with a video showing the simultaed crash test.

Britain’s first full scale rail crash test in over 20 years drew stakeholders from across the rail industry to the Motorail Logistics site at Long Marston, where vehicle engineering specialistst MIRA performed a live impact demonstration on May 14th. The event showcased technology transfer opportunities between road and rail ahead of new EU safety regulations targeting the crashworthiness of modern trains.

The high-energy collision mimicked an impact scenario set out in the European Standard for crashworthiness (EN15227).  Propelled by a heritage DMU travelling at 22mph, the test pitched a 32 tonne Mk 2 coach into a stationary class 86 locomotive, weighing in at 82 tonnes.  During the impact, around 1.5 mega joules of energy dissipated to provide a graphic demonstration of the devastating effects felt by rail passengers when collisions occur.

On board were four 50th-percentile Hybrid III crash test dummies to provide a faithful assessment of occupant kinematics. 50th percentile dummies are designed to represent the average or ‘50%’ male in both dimensions and weight and provide a realistic biofidelic response when seated. Each dummy weighs the precisely ‘average’ 78.4kg.

Accelerometers recorded the coach’s deceleration pulse at the moment of impact, whilst an array of stills cameras and high-frame-rate digital video cameras recorded the crash dynamics – as dummies and interior furnishings flew in all directions. Dummies with their backs to the direction of travel would have suffered chest and abdominal injuries as they absorbed the weight of tabletops, ripped off by the front- facing passengers launched forward during impact.

Broken limbs and head injuries were very likely: reinforcing how vital occupant protection is, even in relatively low speed collisions.

Externally, damage was at a minimum.  Damage to the coach included a fractured buffer. The loco also had its buffers bent, but otherwise stood up the pounding well. Clear indication that the design did little to cushion the effects of the impact, passing high levels of deceleration directly to the occupants with
devastating results; an issue the EU legislation aims to tackle head on.

Joanne Gleave, MIRA’s Safety Development Manager explained:”Although a full-scale crash like this hasn’t been performed here in the UK for over 20 years, automotive crash testing is a daily occurrence for us at MIRA, so  we were confident the demonstration would run to script and right on cue. We’ve been crash testing since the early 1950’s and performed thousands of tests over the years, but never a entire loco and carriage, so we were all keen to examine impact zone and high speed film.”

For the event, MIRA partnered with Motorail Logistics which operates an ideal, off-the-network site at Long Marston in Warwickshire. With 20 miles of track, around 1,000 rail vehicles are currently stored there awaiting maintenance and/or refurbishment in Motorail’s workshops. The two parties joined forces with help from The Rail Alliance, a national body providing a networking forum for member organisations, encouraging collaboration and innovation.

Colin Flack of the Rail Alliance commented: “This event clearly demonstrates that the facility here at Long Marston is a perfect venue for this sort of safety development and look forward to playing our part in delivering safer rail travel to passengers throughout the UK and mainland Europe.”

MIRA provided a unique opportunity to witness first hand the energies involved when two substantial masses come together, dispelling any illusion that the UK lacks the ability to undertake full scale crash tests. The stage is now set for the UK to act as the European test bed for safety development.

[video: Railway Gazette channel on Youtube]