Level crossing information forum

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Level crossing information forum
EUROPEAN LEVEL CROSSING FORUM Alan Davies,
National Programmes alan.davies_at_rssb.co.uk 3
June2009
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Level crossing information forum
Up to the end of 2000 330 people killed each year
at road-rail level crossings in the European
Union (15 members, excluding Greece and
Spain) (95 of these fatalities are caused by the
road user) 40,000 deaths in road traffic
accidents every year   DG TrEn High Level Roads
Group to inform on level crossings and encourage
the exchange of information between Member States
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Level crossing information forum

• First report (2000)
• glossary of level crossing types and definitions
  to understand accident frequencies and risk
•  
• Second report (2003)
• presented accident data and described issues of
• safety management
• inspection regimes
• risk assessment
• enforcement
• awareness campaigns

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Level crossing information forum

• (Second report)
• Accident data should be shared across Member
  States should adopt a common classification of
  level crossings
• Accident reports should contain information on
  road-user
• Road and rail accident databases should be
  integrated

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Level crossing information forum

• (Second report)
• Innovative control equipment should be developed
  further
• In-vehicle information systems should be
  developed further
• Enforcement of traffic rules should be supported
  by awareness campaigns, targeting intentional
  offenders and people that do not know the rules,
  or the risk they take when offending

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Level crossing information forum

• May 2003
• train smashed into a doubledecker bus at a level
  crossing near Siofok, 60 miles southwest of
  Budapest
• 30 German tourists killed and 12 injured
• July 2003
• passenger train collided with a minibus carrying
  immigrant farm-workers on Pools user-worked level
  crossing near Evesham, Worcestershire
• 3 passengers in the minibus died, and 6 injured
  (one seriously)

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Level crossing information forum

• Deutsche Bahn survey
• Road users often do not understand signs or
  signals at level crossings
• Signing and signalling at level crossings vary
  across European Member States

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Level crossing information forum
Then
DG TrEn abandoned the High Level Group
But members decided to set up the European Level
Crossing Research Forum
Informal gathering of road and rail safety
experts to share results from research into level
crossings First meeting London, 2005 (9
countries) Ninth meeting Vienna, April, 2009 (20
countries as members UIC, ERA, ETSC)
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Level crossing information forum
European
Level
Crossing
Research
Forum
Now about more than sharing research so ELCF
ELCF provides a network that drives a closer
working relationship between all the key players
involved in the road/rail interface and
facilitate the core aim of learning from each
other and sharing research findings.
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Vision Zero, Sweden
Shared responsibility, Road and Rail System
designers are responsible for the design,
operation and the use of the road transport
system and are thereby responsible for the level
of safety within the entire system Road users are
responsible for following the rules for using the
road transport system set by the system
designers If the users fail to comply with these
rules due to a lack of knowledge, acceptance or
ability, the system designers are required to
take the necessary further steps to counteract
people being killed or injured.
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ISIS-RCIntelligent detection and signaling
system at uncontrolled railroad
crossingsISIS-RC -warning system used in
addition to existing signs to improve awareness
and safety at uncontrolled railroad
crossings self sufficient energy contactless
detection wireless data transmission
OBB
Project ANDREAS - enforcement
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Cost of Level Crossing Closures in
IrelandSafety studyRisk Assessment modelUse
condition of each crossing measuredRisk
Assessment results - rank crossings
Crossing Closure in Ireland
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action plan for the forum so that future meetings
will produce tangible results. The plan was
distributed prior to this meeting, together with
the latest version of the Charter (Terms of
Reference) for ELCF.
action plan for the forum so that future meetings
will produce tangible results. The plan was
distributed prior to this meeting, together with
the latest version of the Charter (Terms of
Reference) for ELCF.
action plan for the forum so that future meetings
will produce tangible results. The plan was
distributed prior to this meeting, together with
the latest version of the Charter (Terms of
Reference) for ELCF.
action plan for the forum so that future meetings
will produce tangible results. The plan was
distributed prior to this meeting, together with
the latest version of the Charter (Terms of
Reference) for ELCF.
Level crossing information forum
Charter (Terms of Reference) 5 Es Engagement
work with road and rail sectors and government
agencies to reduce risk at level crossings,
building on the work of ELCF, SELCAT and the High
Level Roads Group report of 2003 Engineering
physical equipment and protection, together with
research into innovative means of increasing
safety on the railway
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Level crossing information forum
Education address road user behaviour through
education campaigns on European
level Enforcement promote the development of
links with the law enforcement agencies to
cultivate a systematic approach to code of the
route violations Evaluation setting a baseline
so that the before and after can be compared, to
understand what works well and what does not.
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Level crossing information forum
Action plan to produce tangible results,
engaging with other appropriate
organizations (police, insurance companies,
planners)
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Level crossing information forum

• European Road Safety Charter
• Committing to raise awareness across Europe and
  working to reduce road accidents

• Web resource on level crossings
  www.levelcrossing.net promoting safety, good
  practice, sharing experiences and educational
  material

• Awareness campaign, collaborative effort
  building on existing national campaigns

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Level crossing information forum
Awareness campaign bringing together experience
on media education campaigns from across the
member states Coordinating a European wide
awareness day UIC leading Network Rail leading
in GB 25 June, 2009 Signage project bringing
together experience on signage from across the
member states (Vienna Convention 1968?) RSSB
leading
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Level crossing information forum
European Road Safety Action Plan Joint road and
rail responsibility Planning and development
involvement Changing driver behaviour With DfT
consultation Making Britains roads the safest
in the world
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Level crossing information forum
EUROPEAN LEVEL CROSSING FORUM Alan Davies,
National Programmes alan.davies_at_rssb.co.uk 3
June2009