October 2, 201312 yr Less than one second later a train thundered past just inches from her front wheel in one of the closest near-misses police have seen Watch video: Video: Cyclist near miss with train on level crossing in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire captured on CCTV - Mirror Online http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2330139.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Terrifying-level-crossing-near-miss-at-Waterbeach-2330139.png
October 2, 201312 yr This was already posted by Artstu at about 2PM this afternoon. Must admit still watched it twice! Regards Martin
October 3, 201312 yr This isn't just an isolated incident and it isn't just female cyclists who are guilty of going around these train barriers. It's males, females, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of motor vehicles. What I really don't understand is why. I have crept through the occasional red light on my push bike and cut it more than a bit fine at a red light in my car from time to time, but I have never felt the tiniest urge to go around a barrier at a level crossing and stray into the path of a train. It's so alien to all of my instincts to do this that I can't begin to understand the thought process of these people.
October 3, 201312 yr Few people live in the present and often their minds are always imagining tomorrow and what might be. In this individuals case, tomorrow may have never come! Jerry
October 3, 201312 yr I always dread driving over theses things. I know what you mean, it's the swerving round those wooden barrier things I find most tricky but seriously yes you just never know if something has gone wrong.
October 3, 201312 yr As a train driver, they're virtually fail safe. Nothing can be 100% tho. It's down to idiots like this we have problems. I think it'd be hard to find a driver who has been on a few years that hasn't had at least one incident similar to this. Many haven't been so lucky not to hit them. I have to say that in a way I hate the term cyclist used in the article in many papers. She's just an idiot who happens to be riding a bike. She could quite as easily been a car driver or pedestrian (the worst!). Cyclists already have a stigma attached in the press, and comments I've seen on FB and forums are re-inforcing the stereotype. Oh, and I hope she gets caught and prosecuted. Edited October 3, 201312 yr by swordfish
October 3, 201312 yr Seems to me, on watching it a couple of times, that she was actually stopping, but way too far forward; and I've no explanation for why she crossed the barrier. The only thing I can suggest is that she has become accustomed to stopping at those advanced stop lines at traffic lights & was away with the fairies at the wrong moment.
October 3, 201312 yr She seems to be riding with a bag on/in her left hand so maybe "slammed on the brakes" is newspaper slang for "pulled one badly maintained hardly working brake". I dunno the area but I'm going to take a guess that she lives less than a mile away and decided to turn back and walk it instead. Lots of the most unsafe ones I have met use "but it's only a short... now and then" as an excuse. I still find it amazing that some level crossings are in use, the ones that are home to repeat accidents(many of them) they should just build a small ugly unsightly safe bridge. Councils/MPs mouth constantly about saving lives but when it comes down to it they still back road layouts that aren't as safe as they could be.
October 3, 201312 yr I still find it amazing that some level crossings are in use, the ones that are home to repeat accidents(many of them) they should just build a small ugly unsightly safe bridge. Councils/MPs mouth constantly about saving lives but when it comes down to it they still back road layouts that aren't as safe as they could be. As long as a level crossing is in working order, lights, claxon or barrier of some description, then I don't believe that it is dangerous. Some may require more vigilance than others, but that doesn't mean that they are dangerous. It just means that a knob-head is more likely to meet his or her natural fate at that particular location. I don't think that we should all be required suffer unsightly bridges, and overbearing control measures just to protect a few fools from their own idiotic behaviour.
October 3, 201312 yr As long as a level crossing is in working order, lights, claxon or barrier of some description, then I don't believe that it is dangerous. Some may require more vigilance than others, but that doesn't mean that they are dangerous. It just means that a knob-head is more likely to meet his or her natural fate at that particular location. I don't think that we should all be required suffer unsightly bridges, and overbearing control measures just to protect a few fools from their own idiotic behaviour. Or just a traffic light and a small sign that says look both ways, I can't think of the other level crossing like this near me but is one that is similar and a turn off from a roundabout for a train line instead of tram, both are large railed things that will be doing 50mph+ across the crossing. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Beddington_Lane_tramstop_level_crossing_look_south.JPG I think the council(croydon) for the pictured one above actually used accidents as an excuse against barriers by saying that they "trapped people on the crossing". But yeah fully working lights and claxons and barriers, would you like to add pothole free roads to the list so you can get a top score?
October 3, 201312 yr [quote=Clockwise;193988 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Beddington_Lane_tramstop_level_crossing_look_south.JPG How refreshing to see a level crossing where people are treated as non-idiots, and not too stupid to take any responsibility for themselves.
October 4, 201312 yr How refreshing to see a level crossing where people are treated as non-idiots, and not too stupid to take any responsibility for themselves. How refreshing? I have to disagree. I have a close friend who is also a train driver who has been off now with injuries and stress caused by an accident on a crossing. The people in the car are no longer here to accept responsibility for their actions.
October 4, 201312 yr One difference of course is that a tram is driven by line of sight, whereas trains rely wholly on the signalling system and an assumption that the line isn't obstructed. The poor driver is helpless if there's something in his/her way. Trams need longer braking distances than cars, but still operate on the basis of being able to stop in the distance that can be seen to be clear (at least on non-segregated track anyway). Add to that the fact that modern trams are designed with collisions in mind, including with pedestrians and cyclists; there have been several collisions in Blackpool since the upgraded system was opened, but most were minor and there were no fatalities. Finally, where a tram line crosses a road it's very likely that there'll be a stop there - so speeds should be lower (I don't know about the Croydon example) - whereas even where there's a station next to a level crossing, there can be high-speed non-stop trains. Of course in the eyes of the public it's just a level crossing.
October 4, 201312 yr How refreshing? I have to disagree. I have a close friend who is also a train driver who has been off now with injuries and stress caused by an accident on a crossing. The people in the car are no longer here to accept responsibility for their actions. That's Darwin for you. I only hope they didn't breed.
October 4, 201312 yr That's Darwin for you. I only hope they didn't breed. Hopefully not, indeed. I'm sure they died happy - probably chuffed to bits:o
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