I used to work as a railway signalman and one of my boxes controlled one of these manual or cctv crossings. I experienced day in day out crossing misuse as well as pedestrians leaping over the lowered barrier arm. It’s a sad case of people getting to know it’s a while before the train arrives and that they can still cross when I’m fact it’s not safe at all to do so. The klaxon alarm and barriers are there for good reason and whilst one side lowers and the far side barrier is still raised does not mean one can cross. It’s just a means of escaping the crossing for those already doing so whilst the crossing is activated. Likewise for road traffic, the barriers are not there for one to swerve around.
@@raviormetal1653 The only way to prevent misuse of a level crossing is to eliminate it. You can spend a billion pounds on crossing protection and idiots will still defeat it.
In the US, the vast majority of our grade crossings are completely automated, but now in most cases the track circuitry that senses the train can also calculate it's speed and time crossing activation to give a uniform warning time for the train to arrive regardless of whether it's traveling at 90 or 10 miles per hour. That way nobody's ever waiting an excessive amount of time for the train to arrive and getting as complacent. At a certain point though, the unfortunate reality is that no matter how hard you try to create the best safety system you can, you ultimately can't save people from themselves. We half-joke in engineering that every time you think you've user-proofed your system, the universe accepts your challenge and invents a better idiot to break it anyway. If they don't lose a race with the train, reckless always finds another way to win itself a Darwin Award sooner or later.
An unfortunate reality is the system used in the UK involves the barriers being down for an often inordinately long time before the train passes. The railway becomes more and more risk averse but fails to consider the human factor. If barriers never came down more than 30 seconds before a train passed the abuse of crossings would be far less. There's a (theoretically) greater chance of a vehicle or person being hit by a train, but in reality less people would take the risk.
I think one reason that you get people running across is because you often have to wait for so long between the barriers coming down and the train crossing. Although in this case, the wait doesn't seem to be so long.
They're required to visually verify that the crossing is unobstructed before the train can be signalled across the crossing. In this case, since the train's coming from a station, that's not a big deal. But in an area where trains were doing, say, 70mph, the crossing has to close soon enough that the train could stop if somebody was trapped on it. That can be a couple of minutes.
@@beeble2003agree but there needs to be a different "trip" for the stopped train. It can be done, they had them in Melb 100 years ago where a stopping train would trip an alarm differently to the not stopping train.
Yeah it drives me nuts how long we’ve got to wait nowadays. Often about 3-4 minutes at the one near me 🙄 I understand the why, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
0:12 is a special case of someone misusing the crossing without a care. But I think the alarms (yes, even the new one) is a culprit. They seem to convey "hurry up," so I think it's almost instinct that some take that to mean "run, run!". Yes, that does mean I have a systemic complaint about yodalarms. My opening suggestion would be to use the Swiss e-bell tone.
I also find the "wig wag" lights very irritating. Maybe it reminds me of some person telling you off, wagging their finger at you. I'd rather they used conventional traffic lights.
No, the alarm and lights do not convey 'hurry up', they tell you to stop, stand still and wait behind the gates, until the train has passed. But hey, common sense is very uncommon, these days.. A few years ago a lady in my home city was urged by her boyfriend to cross the tracks as the signals and sound was starting, as he had crossed and didn't want to wait. She rushed across, her high heel shoe got stuck and she did not have time to free herself before the train came.. The boyfriend was charged with manslaughter. There is no valid reason to cross a railway line when signals and lights are on.
@@BasicModellingYou're missing a larger point, one that would probably allow us to understand misuse rather than just say "well, they're idiots" and pat ourselves on the back. Of course that's the law, and I would always wait or use the footbridge. But psychologically, wailing alarms at such a fast cadence like this get the adrenaline going, rather than putting many in a "stop and think" mindset. I think the tone of the alarms is a culprit. Your mileage may vary.
This video brings back memories of my trainspotting days in the late 50's and early 60's on Lincoln Central Station and the good old days of steam, can't believe idiots not using the footbridge, mind you by the time the train came past you could have had a cuppa somewhere.
@@Jack_Warner Then why does only one side (the vehicle side) of the gates come down first? Then the other side comes down. That tells me that cars are supposed to stop first when the left-hand gates come down, and pedestrians can cross until the right-hand side gate is down. It not, it's a terrible system and they should all come down simultaneously.
@@leafbelly because in case of a traffic jam you do not want to lock in the cars that (stupidly) came to a stop on the rails - by only closing half of the gate first, you enable them to still get off of the tracks.
Traumatic amputation stings when the morphine wears off, and you live the rest of your life on stumps … the lucky ones were killed outright … for a few minutes of patience …
As an American it’s so unusual to see those crossings activating so early! In the States, the crossings usually activate 30 seconds before the train arrives.
First closing:It's a full minute between fully closed and a train passing. That's long. Here in The Netherlands, there's about 10 seconds between fully closed and a train crossing on most level crossings. The handful of people a year that try to sneak through don't survive, everyone else knows the barriers are up again within 30 to 40 seconds.
That's how it should be. A lot of people commenting here don't seem to realise it's those excessively long delays that are causing people to ignore the barriers more.
@@wood42shedWell in the UK, every crossing is monitored. A train isn't authorised to pass through until it's clear, that's why there's such a long delay, to allow for the train to come to a complete stop if it's not clear.
I'm very familiar with this crossing. It scares the hell out of me seeing stupid people running between the lowered barriers. They can't wait 2 minutes, or be bothered to use the stairs to cross over. I've seen the remains of a person who was hit by a train, it's not pretty!! DON'T CROSS UNDER OR OVER LOWERED BARRIERS!!!
hmmm..., red light and siren means pedestrians are still allowed to cross the railway? Even when the barriers close, people still enter the cordoned off area.
Good question! The simple answer is *NO!* The long answer is, if they want to get themselves kill and cause undue emotional stress for the train driver, also trains *CAN NOT* swerve to avoid humans and cars. Just think about Melbourne, they are still removing level crossing because of idiots disobeying the road rules, and they get hit by the train and *_blame the train driver,_* because they - _the motorist_ - *did not yield* to the red flashing lights and bells!
This crossing is a " PAIN IN THE ARSE", it's in the middle of the high Street and sometimes you wait 10m + for the train,trains to travel past, the crowds of people who are kept waiting is absolutely ridiculous to say the least, on some occasions the barriers come down but no trains go past... I'm led to believe it's the only one of it's kind in the UK, where a train line goes through a city centre
This is the Northern service to Leeds Via Sheffield, Calling at Saxilby, Gainsborough Lea Road, Retford, Worksop, Shireoaks, Kiveton Park, Kiveton Bridge, Darnall, Woodhouse, Sheffield, Meadowhall, Wakefield Kirkgate and Leeds. This train is formed of 2 coaches
And NR wonder why people play silly buggers with crossings. Crossing secure, platform starter to green, go. It's not rocket surgery. There are other crossings in the UK that close reasonable times before a train....somehow the really irritating ones are always on busy roads. The one at Chichester station seems to close when the train is 5 miles away.
I thought this was going to be one of those video monitored crossings where the train eventually comes through at 100+mph. But no - the people waited almost an entire minute before the train even started moving. No wonder people don't wait once the lights come on.
Plenty of comments on the foolishness; not enough comments on the adorable child filming the train. ☺️ (Yes, I know he’s not quite doing it right; I don’t care.)
I get that trains and signalling are complicated, that you usually need a light for entire segments, and everything. But to forbid crossing over 90s before the train even starts moving, and the barriers being down for over a minute feels a bit rude to people on the street. I wonder if there's better solutions. The 2nd time is also almost 2 minutes. Obviously safety should be the #1 consideration, but I do wonder if this is the best way to achieve it.
My guess is that train leaving the station doesn't trigger the relay for the gate, so they have to do it manually. And of course, it isn't the train driver who does this, so coordonating with station personel and train drivers can add delays. Seeing how the trains can accelerate though, I wonder if they shouldn't replace this by a short trigger section right at the terminal exit. So once the train leave the station the crossing relay triggers, and the train can slowly move toward the crossing until drivers can see it clearly, then they can accelerate.
Setting the route to clear the signal to allow the train to depart triggers the sequence. But the signal can't actually clear until the crossing is confirmed fully down and clear of obstructions
@@dasy2k1 And, in particular, that means that the barriers have to come down early enough that the train would have chance to stop if the crossing isn't confirmed clear.
Because most people are able to cross crossings faster than 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Crossing alarms near train stations are like the boy who cried wolf.
With people running across crossing when gates are closing makes me feel it about time the change how the close the crossing for trains, like bring back the swing gates, which swing automatically to both gates close at same time and it will also stop people trespassing on the railway, and to stop people climbing over the gates put a device that turns when someone tries to climb on it
Why is it most automated level crossings are very quick to open and close whilst Lincoln is infuriatingly slow, The people who closed the Avoiding Line have a lot to answer for, even worse they built houses on it instead of making it a road.
This is a CCTV crossing which is operated from west Holme signal box and they have to drop the barrier and make sure the crossing is clear and they have to lower it early incase they have to stop the barriers so it doesn't delay the train
This crossing is a pain in the arse. Moved from Lincoln 3 years ago having lived there for 15 years . You can sometimes be left waiting for between 5 to 10 minutes or more sometimes. There is a lift and on occasions been used to urinate in. The step steps are unsuitable for the elderly. There are other traffic issues like the congestion on Doddington and Skellingthorpe Roads when trains including, long goodstrains, enter Lincoln.
Proof that it doesn't matter how many lights you install and how many bells, annoying yelps or sirens, the modern people underestimate the dangers and think they'd are above the dangers/issues of breaking the law and risking your life...
@@Dean256 Because it takes as long to cross as waiting for a train often and has loads of steps and the lifts are sketchy/dirty too. And if you decide to take the bridge sod's law kicks in and the gates open before you get to the other side.
Run rabbit run. How many of these "rabbits" would willingly cross illegally just to save 2 minutes but then see someone they know unexpectedly and then talk crap for 20 minutes? 95% i bet!
Great video! 😃 However, when the _level crossing_ red lights start flashing, everyone should stop and wait until the red flashing lights switch off! Those people are idiots, if is was enforceable, they should be fined for jay walking _(if that was law in the UK)!_
@@jlh4ac Good form, jolly good show old chap! Just like traffic lights, a car runs a red *stop light* - can be fined! Is that the same with pedestrians, running a *Don't Walk?* - they may cause an incident? Like a car avoiding the pedestrian? Also aren't they placing their life on the line _(excuse the pun)?_ As we all know a Red Light _(traffic/Road)) means *STOP!* Like the Stop Sign!
@@jonathonshanecrawford1840 Pedestrians don't have to obey traffic lights in the UK but they can be held at fault if they cause an accident by doing in unreasonable manner.
@@jlh4ac May be that's why many people get hit by a train/motorist's as they *think they have the right of way,* no regard to the side-effects. May be the MOT should of introduced fines and enforcement decades ago? Don't the level crossings have CCTV cameras? Even with Smart cameras? Like in this video, people disregarding a stop signal for all pedestrians and motorists? Yes we have rights! However no one should never ever Play chicken with rains! unless they are an idiot!
@@jonathonshanecrawford1840 For pedestrians to be fined for not obeying traffic lights parliament would have to pass new legislation which would not be politically popular. Without new legislation all the DtF and DVSA can do is update the Highway Code to give more strongly worded guidance to pedestrians crossing the road at traffic lights. Many Level crossings in the UK do have CCTV cameras and the British Transport Police has used them to fine pedestrians who misused level crossings in the past but the amount of fines is disproportionally low compared to the amount of level crossing misuse.
The people crossing after the alarm & not using the FB is human nature. A similar one in Sleaford is often shut for 10 minutes causing traffic chaos in the town. So experience tells folk to try and beat the gates. System's like these should be designed with actual human nature in mind. People aren't fecking robots, at least not yet.
Let's see. Replace by 6-foot high solid barriers that close all at the same time. And with all that audible and visual warning, if you get caught between them it's entirely on you. I have zero tolerance for idiots.
