When I was a wee lad of 16 I had my first accident on the road, within a kilometre of home. It was at the time of changes from give way to the right to priority roads. I knew the corner and complacency was an issue, (plus the smell of mum's lamb roast) but also the fact I still drive past that corner several times a week, so my chances of just being unlucky are reducing too.
At another time I spoke with two well respected SAR drivers about crossing fatalities and they had experienced a number each. There were some in the "I wish I could have sped up cause they were racing me" , And others where there were distractions. But the ones that caused the most distress were where they made eye contact with a passenger in the car, who could do nothing. And some where the person made eye contact and saw the train too late to do anything. The last two had significant impacts on the drivers.
Another factor nowadays is sound systems in cars, and the soundproofing of cars. I was in an appointment yesterday and a car with a very loud boombox went past us four times. It is probable that they would not hear a train horn over the huge noise, so they rely on visual sighting. this increases the chance of a fatality. My first car had a tinny little radio , and a steam whistle or diesel horn was easy to hear through the open window. I had time to stop at crossings and look, as it was a two hour trip to Victor, nowadays everyone complains if it takes a whole hour. Nowadays We all need to be there ten minutes ago. This is how people are conditioned nowadays.
So everything comes down to a combination of factors, and the only way to really make everyone safe on the roads is reduce it back to the old days and have a flag waving person walking ahead of every car. Just look next time you are on a freeway , and see how many people are tailgaiting!! they do not save any time at all as the first red light they encounter will negate the two second saving by tailgating, cause it will not get green any faster.
It is a sad fact of life that train crews are subjected to this , and always have been, as have the emergency services involved, and the families. But would slowing trains to 50kmh on the pirie line avoid the problem until gates could be installed on every occupation crossing and highway crossing on the line. Would the economic benefit be better ? Life is a compromise, and all the studies in the world will not save one life until every crossing has an active crossing system, or an over ride to sound systems, or flashing dash lights, or 90 degree angles on all crossings with no trees in the appropriate distance.
I live 500m from two level crossings, depending on winds, climatic and time conditions the new bells can penetrate over my clock radio at times. But a boombox equipped modern car going over the crossing with windows closed, air conditioning on full, sound reduction equipped arguing with a shrieking significant other may not hear the bells and will rely on flashing lights.
Everything is a compromise, just like on the freeway yesterday, for safety the concrete barriers at the location are fixed to avoid danger in event of a vehicle being out of control but when the road was closed by the accident it was not simple to start a contra flow to allow some traffic to move through. so many people were delayed. once again a compromise. throwing millions at it for a once in a blue moon event is not a realistic expenditure, just like a sad and occasional accident on the train line.
