By Leo Stevens
The number of motorists involved in near-misses with trains at level crossings increased by 15 per cent in 2010, Network Rail (NR) has revealed.
Last year, there were 161 near-misses between trains and road vehicles, compared with 140 in 2009. There were also 297 incidents involving trains and people travelling by foot in 2010.
Robin Gisby, NR's director of operations and customer services, said: "Too many motorists continue to break the law by jumping the lights or swerving around barriers at level crossings. Hundreds of pedestrians are also risking their lives just trying to save a few seconds - it's just not worth it.
"While deaths and injuries are thankfully few, these actions by those who are either impatient or ignorant of the law cause great cost, delay and disruption to both rail and road passengers across Britain."
There were a further 768 incidents reported where pedestrians crossed when it was unsafe to do so, and 748 road vehicles crossed when the barriers were down.
Although collisions between road vehicles and trains fell from 14 in 2009 to seven last year, and deaths at level crossings fell from 13 to four, motorists who insist on breaking the law in this manner risk forfeiting their car insurance policy if they are caught by police.
NR said that overall there were 3,446 recorded incidents of level crossing misuse across Britain's national railway network last year compared with 3,244 in 2009. This prompted the organisation to fund a purpose-built marked police van fitted with nine cameras, each of which can use number plate recognition technology to help deter motorists from breaking the law.
photo: boliston
