KiwiRail and TrackSAFE are urging Waitaki District motorists to stop and take a really good look for trains, as we approach this year’s Rail Safety Week (7-13 August).
Role model Steely Stan will demonstrate the correct behaviour around crossings, and then keep a ‘helpful’ eye on everyone. Steely Stan will be championing taking a good look to both the left and right before crossing, with the campaign phrase, ‘Steely Stare. Steely Stare. All clear’.
TrackSAFE Manager Megan Drayton says while safety is no laughing matter the campaign uses humour and a memorable character to grab people’s attention. We are encouraging everyone to take more than a cursory glance at level crossings and instead really focus on the risks.”
In the Waitaki District there have been 24 collisions and near misses between vehicles and trains since 2010.
KiwiRail Operations Manager for Dunedin Jamie McFarland says there have been 11 collisions with trains and 13 near misses since 2010, and the figures are higher than the rest of the Otago region.
“I get regular reports from our drivers saying they have seen a car off to the right, and instead of the vehicle slowing for the crossing they’re speeding up or not paying attention,” says Jamie.
In one incident a vehicle had stopped at the level crossing and another vehicle rear-ended it. Both ended up in the path of an oncoming freight train.
“The Waitaki District does have a lot of level crossings, but the statistics clearly show a degree of complacency and a lack of awareness of the risks,” says Jamie.
For Jamie it’s also a personal issue. He can still hear the bang and see his firefighter father racing out the door to the level crossing near their home when he was a teenager. It was a car versus freight train incident that claimed the lives of three teenagers from Jamie’s high school.
That was more than 20 years ago but Jamie still carries it with him, along with the look on his father’s face when he returned home many hours later and the aftermath Jamie witnessed later at the crossing.
Collisions and near-misses with trains can cause severe and lasting trauma, not only for the victims and their families, but also the locomotive engineers and other affected staff, emergency services personnel and others who witness these events, says Jamie.
Past incidents have created severe anxiety in his team and at its absolute worst long-term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“People don’t realise the human element in these situations and the long-lasting severe impact caused if we hit someone. Please stop and make sure you take a good look,” says Jamie.