Train level crossing trial to send warnings to cars

[Mickxr8]

Seriously ? wtf , not sure if this is a joke or what but,,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-2...o-cars/4023594

(a) If your driving a car and cannot see a railway crossing sign, a boomgate or some flashing red lights then there`s really no hope for us ?.
Are people getting that `dumded` down they need to be informed of every little distraction on our awesome goat tracks less it might interfere with there tunnel visioned view of ` I want to be there yesterday`, .

(b) I assume said msg would be sent via phone txt , see a problem here ? .

For gods sake , if you need all this **** please stay away from me on the roads

[cs123]

It would be the same method as announcements in tunnels wouldn't it?

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Mickxr8

Seriously ? wtf , not sure if this is a joke or what but,,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-2...o-cars/4023594

(a) If your driving a car and cannot see a railway crossing sign, a boomgate or some flashing red lights then there`s really no hope for us ?.
Are people getting that `dumded` down they need to be informed of every little distraction on our awesome goat tracks less it might interfere with there tunnel visioned view of ` I want to be there yesterday`, .

(b) I assume said msg would be sent via phone txt , see a problem here ? .

For gods sake , if you need all this **** please stay away from me on the roads

And the forty squillion rail crossings that do not have lights or boom gates...........

Actually in parts of Europe transponders are used to send messages to your radar detector warning of road hazards.

Obviously someone forgot to explain to the Europeans that radar is for revinue not road safety..........

[Shonky.]

Darwin would be having kittens if he saw this

[irdonn]

Originally Posted by flappist

Actually in parts of Europe transponders are used to send messages to your radar detector warning of road hazards.

I've had similar information flash up on an old radar detector in Perth with emergency vehicles approaching and roadworks.

Ian

[2011G6E]

Huh...I see plenty of cars and trucks that drive around closed boom gates in front of us and ignore flashing lights to save a couple of minutes while our train goes by. We have our headlight blaring, sound our horn, and I can assure you that 10,000 tonnes of a 1.7km long train doing up to 80kph doesn't stop on a dime...

To be blunt, if it ever happens to me that I collect one of these idiots who blatantly ignores all the safety put in place, I'll only feel bad about it if there's kids in the car...otherwise I'll just have a quiet chuckle.

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Mickxr8

.

(b) I assume said msg would be sent via phone txt , see a problem here ? .

For gods sake , if you need all this **** please stay away from me on the roads

er no.. dunno why youd assume it would be send to your phone
It breaks through onto your radio.

Sadly yes a lot of drivers are so ignorant its not funny, one needs only watch the railway crossing camera footage to see idiots dicing with death day in and day out.

Afew months ago now, I watched one of these idiots stop at a level crossing and then floor it as the boom gates were half way down. I cheered and gave him the thumbs up as i saw the camera installed at the level crossing flash!

Another idiots many years ago... and im not joking... ran into a train in south townsville.... she was quoted as saying... I DIDNT SEE THE TRAIN! Never mind it was 1km long... ran parralel with the road and there were flashing lights at the crossing.

[mik]

there`s no shortage of tools out there, last week during peak hour, imagine my surprise when i`m motoring down the suburban single lane road fairly chockas with afternoon traffic, and on my right is normal traffic passing/coming towards me,............. on my left the was a 4wd going against the traffic coming towards me on my left using the bike lane on my side of the road.
i did`nt bip the horn ,did`nt swear, , i just shook me head ......another normal day in Melbourne .

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Huh...I see plenty of cars and trucks that drive around closed boom gates

I think this is the problem more than not having enough warning

Latrobe University is trying to fix the symptom, not the cause. a warning is only good if you heed it.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

I think this is the problem more than not having enough warning

Latrobe University is trying to fix the symptom, not the cause. a warning is only good if you heed it.

I heard that there was an investigation into "boom gate cameras" but it turned that they would be unprofitable so therefore not in compliance with the state government road safety guidelines.

[Ben73]

A guy I work with killed someone at a crossing a couple of weeks ago.
Highbeam was on. Horn was blown. This car driver stopped at the stop sign. Then slowly started to drive across the crossing to be hit by the train traveling at about 75kmh.
Perhaps if this guy knew there was a train coming he would of looked a bit harder.

[poppa smurf]

this always makes me sad and simply ask the question "why"

a very dear co worker of my sons was killed a few weeks back on a level crossing....the man was disabled and relied on his mother (74 from memory) to take him backwards and forwards to his day options centre

the vehicle was travelling at an estimated speed of 70 KPH the train was a goods/general freight traveling at less than 60 KPH

the track was clear of side obstacles with a clear line of sight of greater than four miles

it was said that the train would have had to be less than 30 yards from the crossing with light on and warning device employed to involve a collision......it would have been right THERE

yet she still ventured across and was struck.........maybe if this warning was in place over the radio he may still be with us today

[2011G6E]

They've fitted cameras to all the crossings with lights out here...as soon as the lights activate, the camera comes on. If we see a vehicle go across before the boom gates close (which brain dead hopeless wastes of space and breath somehow think is still "safe"), we report it to control, and we get a phone call from someone who asks the time and location. Someone...not sure who...comes out and downloads the camera and bingo, they get a nice present in the mail.

One guy I worked the other night got out a little camera with a sucker mount and put it on the bottom of the windscreen in front of him and off to one side, saying he bought it after a very very near miss at a crossing out near Emerald with a grain truck. There was no camera at that crossing, so it was the drivers word against theirs. He says it records up to about twenty hours of video and then loops over it again, so if something happens, he can just pull it out and go "see, that's what really happened".

People just don't respond to death as a consequence of their actions apparently...maybe if they made if automatic loss of licence for six months and a $5000 fine for driving across a crossing when the lights are activated...that might open a few eyes...but I doubt it...

[Mickxr8]

And what if your radio is off or on a rural rd out west of woop woop with no reception ? , Wouldn`t lose much sleep if a numpty got cleaned up in the `burbs` coz of there own impatience but,, most people ( I hope ) when outback driving can see these things coming a mile away .
Worst case scenario ( example) , put an (empty) pram on the side of the road, shake it a bit and see how much attention the driver pays then ?

[poppa smurf]

I dont think this will ever eventuate out here.....the crossing that killed my sons co-worker, as with most of them out here, hasn't even got lights

it has a stop sign but I guess this poor woman had been driving that road at least twice a day with her son for the past 50 years......simply didn't stop

whether she would have had the radio on would be another thing and if she did what station would it be broadcast on

[Yellow_Festiva]

They have a radio warning system in the M5 tunnels.... pre-recorded voice blocks out whatever station you are on and tells you that it is a recorded warning system.

I think the overhead electronic signs also warn people top tun into their radios.

[BPXR6T]

Any of you guys ever make it out of the city. I could name hundreds of death trap crossings in the country where safety would be improved with a cheap RF transmitter. Not every crossing has big flashing lights and boom gates. I can think of one out passed Bendigo that's on the other side of a blind corner.

This tech could also been implemented on death trap country intersections. For example the intersection of the Wimmera Hwy and Landsborough Road where I was nearly killed last year by a zoned out driver.

ED: wouldn't want to live near the crossing or intersection though and want to listen to the radio though hey...

[Ben73]

Some people make genuine mistakes, but some people are just thick.

I was working with a guy who told me a story, his train was already across the crossing, it was the middle of the day and someone drove into the side of the train.
Their excuse "I don't normally see trains here"
They don't normally see trains at this crossing, so they just drive into the side of the 20 foot tall thing in front of them?