Crash at Halkirk Crossing

[philupmaboug]

I see that there has been another train/van crash at one of the unmanned railcrossings at Halkirk this morning, thankfully no on was seriously hurt. Think its time for a new approach to avoid any future mishaps.

[Tugmistress]

Yeah, just in from tootling round doing various jobs and heard this on mfr :( glad everyone seems to be ok this time.
surely something will be done this time!

[Loraine]

I saw it as we passed the Halkirk turn-off, the road's closed due to the accident. Got that awful feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know something bad has happened...:(. Not another accident to do with a level crossing at Halkirk - this time the other level crossing for a change! Hope it's true nobody was badly hurt this time. What an awful thing to happen... :~(

[Rheghead]

What is the problem with the crossing? Are people not looking for the stop signal, over familiarity or is the crossing broken?

[gollach]

Isn't this the crossing that AI Willie (ahem, meant to say Councillor Willie Mackay, sorry!) went to the papers about? It was stuck on the wrong signal before Christmas, several witnesses at the time.

edit:
here is the link
http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/7678/Fear_over_rail_lights.html

[Mik.M.]

Why don`t people slow down and LOOK at these crossings? I treat them all as if the lights are broken.

[dragonfly]

the sun being so low may be a contributary cause, know I found it hard to see the one on the back road at Watten until I was right upon it......I had slowed right down though before thinking about crossing

[horsegirl]

It was my cousin that had the accident. We still waiting to hear how he is and he did try to stop but the road condition did not allow him to.

Maybe its the road conitions should be looked into and people should not just think that its bad drivers!!!!!!

Thoughts are with my cousin and hope he will be ok.:(:(

[davem]

Agree completely.
We are not exactly overwhelmed with trains. All you wise people who speculate as to the causes of accidents without knowing the facts would do well to keep your thoughts to yourselves.
It may have escaped your notice but even with the well documented accidents over the years it still happens over and over again. Whatever might stop these accidents in terms of changing driving behaviour is irrelevant. People have died and continue to die or narrowly escape death. It is a tragedy and some mechanical/structural change is needed to make the crossings safer.
Any speculation or blame is uncalled for and reprehensible.

[cuddlepop]

It was my cousin that had the accident. We still waiting to hear how he is and he did try to stop but the road condition did not allow him to.

Maybe its the road conitions should be looked into and people should not just think that its bad drivers!!!!!!

Thoughts are with my cousin and hope he will be ok.:(:(

I'm glad your cousin is ok,what a fright he must have had when he realised he just couldnt stop.

Its starting to thaw here so the ice underneath is exposed and even driving in a landrover at times were slidding,tyres had nothing but sheer ice underneath them.:eek:

[irn-bru32]

well i hope the train driver is ok as well as they can get a shock as well as the car driver, so i hope my dad the train driver is ok as well

[slinky]

my fiancee and her mum were on it they didnt notice much, but glad there ok;)

[wickscorrie]

hope everyone involved is okay, but that crossing should be looked at

[Connor.]

I think it's unfair that people are blaming the driver of the van saying they weren't looking. Not only were you not there you haven't a clue what happened. There could be severe ice at bits and it just couldn't stop in time.

It is a really unfortunate accident and is an accident that has been repeated over and over again. I hope that something is done about it before another life is lost due to poor protections at the crossings.

The "improvement" to make the crossings safer were bits that stuck out over the lights, which in my opinion was just a cheap resolution. When lives are of concern you would of thought a bit more consideration would go into it, it took them long enough to put that cheap things up. How many more peoples lives will be in danger before something proper is done.

[fingalmacool]

Scotrail will be cacking themselves regardless of fault, the cost of gates might be too much to bear, so as a cheap alternative why don't they put up huge signs with the train times on them so drivers will have a clue to the times that there is likely to be one coming, and then maybe some speed bumps to help slow cars down, I was under the impression that the trains slow down to a crawl when passing the roads, but i might be wrong:confused

[topotheuk]

Not long after the last accident, I was with my friend who was taking her horse to Halkirk. We approached the railway and no lights on. I looked down the track as we were crossing to see a train approaching (but far enough away not to cause alarm). I watched out my mirror to see when the lights would come on, and they didn't come on until the train was almost on the crossing :(

[Connor.]

Not long after the last accident, I was with my friend who was taking her horse to Halkirk. We approached the railway and no lights on. I looked down the track as we were crossing to see a train approaching (but far enough away not to cause alarm). I watched out my mirror to see when the lights would come on, and they didn't come on until the train was almost on the crossing :(

That's shocking, there should be a warning well before that.

[BINBOB]

It was my cousin that had the accident. We still waiting to hear how he is and he did try to stop but the road condition did not allow him to.

Maybe its the road conitions should be looked into and people should not just think that its bad drivers!!!!!!

Thoughts are with my cousin and hope he will be ok.:(:(

Sorry to hear about ur cousin,really wish him well.

[BINBOB]

well i hope the train driver is ok as well as they can get a shock as well as the car driver, so i hope my dad the train driver is ok as well

Hope ur dad is fine and will recover from the shock soon.

[bekisman]

We always treat unmanned level crossing with total respect. Of course in some instances road conditions (ice?) may play a part.. interesting to see we've (UK) got one of the lowest level crossing accident rates in the world..
FACTS ABOUT LEVEL CROSSINGS - Level crossings are safe if used correctly - 95% of accidents at level crossings are caused by misuse or error– i.e. drivers ignoring red signals, barriers and klaxons - There are over 7,400 level crossings both on public and private land that cut across the UK railway network.
Four hundred and eighty-eight are staffed, and 373 are supervised by CCTV cameras. The rest – 6,632 – are unmanned crossings. However, only 1,500 of these are on public roads – the rest are on private property with either limited public access or none at all.
Over the last two decades, the figure has shown only a small improvement despite numerous campaigns and education programmes. The year 2005 had the worst pedestrian fatality rate at crossings since 1997. Three out of four crossing deaths are males. But it would be wrong to see this as just teenage stupidity; two out of three people who die at crossings are over the age of 31.

But the level crossing accident rate in Britain remains low. In fact, it’s among the lowest in the world. Each year 680m vehicles use our level crossings safely.
In June this year, a 29-year old businessman faced the tough consequences of his actions when he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after he was caught swerving around the barriers at Horsham Road level crossing as they were closing. The motorist was charged with dangerous driving and was ordered to pay a fine of £1,265, £500 prosecution costs, or in default to serve 45 days imprisonment. The driver was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to take an extended driving test.
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=4878&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=6 (http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=4878&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=6)
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4817.aspx (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4817.aspx)

[upolian]

i have been told the lights at watten are doing the same thing(not giving enough notice)coming on when the train is just a few seconds from crossing,something isnt rite,needs looking at(so do the roads)before any other accidents occur,glad everybody is ok

[horsegirl]

Thanks everyone for nice remarks. Cousin in comfortable tahts all i no at moment as his family are still with him.


How long is it going to take for something to be done about the railway crossing and the road conditions. There is a time and place to have cut backs and i really dont think that these two things are any of them.

[kitty]

Glad to hear he's ok horsegirl :)

Bet he's fairly shaken up though

[Tubthumper]

Charges have been made, maybe this thread should be closed now?

[achingale]

I hate these crossings. I always have. I have often just slowed to almost crawling to double and triple check there is no train coming. We all just have to be extra careful. Glad no one was seriously hurt this time, but how long until the next accident?