NSW: Cameras not the answer to preventing rail crossing deaths

AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2001
NSW: Cameras not the answer to preventing rail crossing deaths

By Maureen Dettre

SYDNEY, Dec 3 AAP - Red light cameras were of little use at level rail crossings if
all they did was provide a snapshot of a car being flattened by a train, a NSW parliamentary
inquiry was told today.

NSW Chief Superintendent Ron Sorrenson, the Commander of the Traffic Services Branch,
said priority should be given to improving level crossing design rather than installing
red light cameras.

"If better design could prevent the incident from happening that is far better than
a red light camera taking a photo of a car being hit by a train," he said.

The Staysafe Committee is conducting public hearings into the safety of the state's
1,600 level railway crossings after the deaths of five young men at a crossing near Albury
last year.

Supt Sorrenson said the key to preventing accidents at level crossings was ensuring
collisions were prevented by design rather than resorting to often ineffective punitive
measures.

"Some 80,000 people drive through red light cameras each year," he said.

"We have many, many photographs of fatalities that have happened at red light camera
sites where the cars have driven through the red light, hit somebody and killed them.

"If different design could prevent the incident from happening, that is far better
than a red light camera taking a photo of a car being hit by a train."

Supt Sorrenson said people in country areas tended to take chances.

"If one is serious in saying let's prevent this happening, one then has to look at
how do I physically restrain the people so they cannot do it.

"Because we know with the best will in the world, with the best education, with the
best road rules, with the best enforcement strategies, there are still people who choose
to act contrary to all those warnings," he said.

AAP maur/jjs/ph/sb

KEYWORD: CROSSINGS

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