Video footage of a ute overtaking another car and then cutting across a Port Kembla level crossing in front of a freight train highlights the need for police to monitor the location.
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This week the Mercury reported that Traffic and Highway Patrol officers will be keeping an eye on level crossings at Old Port Road and Foreshore Road after several recent near misses.
Footage of some of those incidents released by Transport for NSW show impatient drivers ignoring the warning lights and driving straight over the tracks at the Old Port Road level crossing.
In one video, a freight train starts moving towards the level crossing, triggering the warning lights.
A silver sedan does the right thing and stops, with a white ute pulling up behind.
A few seconds later, the ute driver decides he has time to slip over the tracks in front of the freight train. So they pull out into the other lane - crossing a double white line to do so - and then floor it across the tracks as the train approaches.
As well as the obvious physical danger of such an action, it's also expensive. If caught, the driver would receive $725 in fines and five demerit points.
Another video shows a driver slowing down in wet weather as they approach the level crossing.
But, like the ute driver, they feel they've got enough time to speed across the tracks before the freight train arrives.
It's a move than overlooks the fact there a two sets of rails and the freight train obscures the driver's view of what is happening on the second set.
There are no boomgates at the Port Kembla level crossing because only those deemed a high safety risk have them installed.
Still, the crossing has warning lights, which Transport for NSW Deputy Secretary for Safety, Environment and Regulation Tara McCarthy said need to be obeyed.
"Drivers and riders who disregard the road rules and enter a level crossing that is in operation risk becoming stranded on the tracks in the path of an oncoming train which may not be able to stop in time," Ms McCarthy said.
She added that freight trains can travel at speeds up to 160km/h and take up to 1.5 kilometres to come to a complete stop.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
