A problem considered

Problem

Pedestrians choosing to ignore active level crossing equipment which results in near misses with trains and a high potential for a fatal collision

Pedestrian Warning Sign

‘Use a bridge, wait for the lights or lose your life’

Context

This problem is predominant at level crossings in urban and suburban areas with a road/rail interface and a high concentration of pedestrian and cyclist traffic needing to cross anything from one to four tracks utilised by suburban trains and possibly freight trains. 

Politically, this shared environment can be very volatile if the crossing has been the subject of previous public complaints, near misses and collisions, particularly fatalities.   The community will become very vocal when they perceive the road/rail interface is not safe.    

Technically level crossings can be large and complex with an array of signs, alarms, gates and booms or a simple crossing over the track/s.  Either way pedestrian crossings on level crossings can cause a lot of conflict resulting in near misses or fatal collisions with trains.  These incidents can have quite devastating and long lasting effects on train drivers, passengers, witnesses, emergency services and rail staff tasked with attending the site to investigate what occurred.    

Pedestrian Level Crossing with a road/rail interface.

 There are 2 suburban tracks

and a third track (not in picture – situated behind the photographer).

Tragic train girl Teresa Ho was loving and always optimistic says friend

AUTHORITIES were repeatedly told a level crossing that yesterday claimed the life of a girl, 15, was a death trap.

Teresa Ho died after walking into the path of a V/Line train at Ginifer station, St Albans, yesterday morning, the Herald Sun reported.

Stunned witnesses had pleaded with the girl not to cross the line soon before she was hit, police said.

ST ALBANS RESIDENTS AND TRADERS SAID THEY HAD BEEN CAMPAIGNING FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS FOR AN UNDERPASS AT THE CROSSING.

In 1995, the family of Emmanuel Spiteri, 79, who was killed there, pleaded for a safety upgrade.

In 2008 - four years after three people were killed driving across the tracks at busy Furlong Rd - the crossing was ranked fifth on the Department of Transport's most dangerous list. But it is still waiting for a grade separation.

Police said yesterday Teresa, a St Albans Catholic Regional College schoolgirl, walked around a boom gate and tried to cross the tracks while a Sydenham-bound Metro train sat stationary at the platform when she was hit by a train travelling from Bendigo to the city.

Sgt Rob Atkinson said the girl was wearing headphones and might not have heard the screams for her not to cross.

A distressed woman witness said: "She was running through the gates and got hit by the train - she just went flying. I just felt sick - this girl had no chance."

The secretary of the St Albans business association, Asip Demiri, who has written repeated letters to the State Government begging for action, said the solution was simple - an underpass.

At least 50 pedestrians have been hit by trains at level crossings in Victoria in the past decade.

A week ago a boy, 3, was struck by a train in regional Victoria and died in hospital the next day.

Last month, a 70-year-old woman was killed by a train at a level crossing at McKinnon railway station.

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Realities

In the public space the road/rail interface can be the subject of much debate, particularly after a fatal or serious injury collision involving a train and pedestrian.   The media will quite often report on the top ten dangerous level crossings or similar which more often than not generates many on line responses to the topic, with authors commenting on incidents they know or were involved with.      

On a daily basis however there are multiple reported near misses each day when pedestrians push through activated gates, duck under or go around boom gates and ignore audible alarms.  These instances are reported as a matter of course by the train drivers to train control.     

Statistics reported in Toowoomba area newspaper The Chronicle, 28 March 2012

Relating to near misses between trains and pedestrians/cyclists

Actors

Pedestrians and cyclists using the level crossings

Train Drivers who must pass over a level crossing

Passengers using the train network

The Government departments and the train company who must share responsibility for maintenance and costs of the road/rail interface.  

The community, who live in the vicinity of the level crossings and have to use them as a road user, pedestrian or cyclist. 

Lobby groups that take particular interests in the rail industry.   

Tensions  

The biggest problems affecting the separation of pedestrians from a level crossing are funding and costs, station and road designs, overall use of a station and level crossing and the perceived danger of a level crossing resulting in the determination of which level crossing gets priority. 

The public, media and local lobby groups voicing concerns to the State and local Governments and the rail industry about a level crossing can cause tensions and friction among these departments because of the need to look after rate payers, voters and appease the media.  Negative media attention is a major cause of tension.   

Maintenance and redesigning a level crossing can cause tension to road users around the level crossing and pedestrians alike. Trains can also be affected by work being undertaken which effects on time running thus creating tension for rail passengers, train controllers, managers within the rail industry tasked with ensuring efficient train services and where applicable, the Government departments that oversee a rail company. 

A major tension is the perception by pedestrians that they do not need to wait for long periods of time at level crossings.    

Problem Definition

If the problem of conflicts between trains and pedestrians were solved then both parties would be separated.  This could be achieved firstly by actually removing the pedestrian from the level crossing by way of overpass or underpass. 

Another way of attempting to solve the problem was recently discussed in Toowoomba area newspaper The Chronicle, 28 March 2012 and involves a safety lock system on pedestrian gates preventing operating gates from being pushed open.

 Part of an article entitled Level Crossing Dangers contained in The Chronicle, P29, 28 March 2012

Concepts

The highest level solution for the separation of pedestrians from rail traffic would be a suitably designed underpass or overpass which could be used by both able bodied and disabled or elderly pedestrians.  This separation removes the risk of potential conflict with all and any rail traffic.   

What Would You Miss

There are approximately ten ‘near misses’ a week involving a motorist or pedestrian driving/running in front of a train at a level crossing or on the rail corridor. Frighteningly, the latest research indicates one in four drivers admit to engaging in risky behaviour at level crossings.

What Would You Miss? is a campaign which seeks to change perceptions, attitudes and behaviours at level crossings by asking people to stop and reflect on ‘what they would miss‘ – to encourage all road users to think about the consequences of their actions, and the risks involved at level crossings.

On 5 October 2010, Queensland Rail hosted an event at King George Square with hundreds of Queensland Rail employees, their families, representatives from the emergency services and other dignitaries holding placards outlining what they would miss. The crowd formed a ‘702’ on the ground to represent the 702 near misses which were recorded in 2009.

The event was a resounding success with prime time television coverage and articles in national newspapers. As time progresses, Queensland Rail is continuing to deliver these important level crossing safety messages.

References

News.com  ‘Tragic train girl Teresa Ho was loving and always optimistic says friend’

http://www.news.com.au/national/teenage-girl-hit-and-killed-hit-by-train-at-st-albans/story-e6frfkvr-1226163478937#ixzz1qDiImVWU

The Chronicle, 28 March 2012, Level Crossing Dangers, Safety System, P.29 

Queensland Rail Internet

http://www.queenslandrail.com.au/AboutUs/MediaCentre/Campaigns/Pages/WhatWouldYouMiss.aspx

Good morning Yvonne,

I read with interest the article in relation to the building of the Burnley Tunnel and the deaths of the two workers which was quite tragic and absolutely preventable.

What I found particularly frustrating was the fact that the ambulance officer and experienced trench rescuer – who was accepted as the trained and experienced expert in the field would not accept the observations of O’Connor who was only a worker and therefore in his then current dilemma was not an expert.  Even though O’Connor continually advised there was water in the hole his observations were ignored without questioning the validity of what he was saying.

What was it that stopped the rescuer from accepting that what O'Connor was saying was the truth and fact?  Although probably a harsh judgement, I think there was a certain type of arrogance and even apathy to the incident, as written in the article, not only was a video of the rescue operation made for training purposes by the fire brigade, there was also an ‘air of confidence that it would be a successful textbook operation’.   Therefore, with a belief that the rescue was going to be a textbook operation anything outside the norm of the textbook would have been excluded and considered an irritation. 

I attended a fatal road crash involving a woman (pedestrian) and a B-double truck on a major 4 lane highway in a 100km zone.  As a Crash Investigator I was called to the scene and even before I arrived the general duties police had decided and reported it to the Duty Supervisor as a suicide and it was recorded on the police computer system as one.  When I arrived the general opinion was why was I bothering surveying the scene, conducting measurements and so on.  One thing I did pick up along the roadway was the woman’s mobile phone which I put back together and it worked, even ringing a couple of times while I was there. 

As this incident happened in the very early hours of the morning, at the completion of the job I went home and didn’t return to work until late the next afternoon.  I was asked by my officer in charge why I was dealing with a suicide matter because he had been told what had happened.  I told him that I had concerns it had not been investigated and I disagreed with the opinion of everyone at the scene.   The initial report entered into the reporting system was based on the very short version supplied from the truck driver who had said the woman had come out of the bushes onto the road so therefore she must have done it deliberately.     

It took me a number of weeks and into a few months and many statements, and many conversations with friends who had been out with her that night; conversations with her family of what she had to look forward to; a detailed statement from the truck driver and; conversations with her Doctor to finally arrive at a conclusion for the Coroner.  There were two particular findings I reported to the Coroner.

The first being in relation to a prescribed and somewhat new medication for assistance in the treatment of cessation of smoking, which was recorded at abnormally  high levels in the system of the woman by the pathologist.  After researching and reading some case studies, I found the medication produced some behavioural side effects including a distorted view of reality which was mentioned and described by her friends and husband in their statements.   

The second and most significant finding was that the woman was a bit of a prankster and had always threatened to go to an overpass situated on the highway which was visible to one of her best friends if she sat on the back deck of her house and ‘moon’ her.  The particular part of the overpass which was visible was across the highway, on the opposite side to the suburb where they both lived.  Immediately prior to the incident the woman’s best friend told me she had received a phone call from the woman asking if she were on her back deck, which her friend had said she was.  The friend had told me that the phone was still open and she heard a loud sound getting closer and then the phone call stopped. 

My conclusion to the Coroner was that the incident was the result of misadventure and not suicide, with the distinct possibility that the medication along with the alcohol she had consumed on the night had an effect on her judgement, perception and reaction.    

What I found was that the incident was treated as a ‘text book suicide’ from the moment the incident site was attended and a short version obtained from the truck driver only.  I don’t believe things are ‘text book’, no two things are ever the same in incidents that appear similar on the surface. I think as an investigator - and in the reported case in Melbourne, a rescuer, needs to take everything into account and then discount it only after an assessment has been made.       

Theresa     

     

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