SHE SAYS . . .

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33442, 25 January 1974, Page 21

SHE SAYS . . .

Cars and trains are a dangerous mixture, and the sooner level crossings either have barriers or are by-passed altogether, the better, I’m sure. The crossings in town that the railways always seem to be shunting over — slowly—impose greatly on motorists’ patience, and they’re all the more dangerous for that reason.

The other evening, I saw a perfect demonstration of how the railways can “set up” a potential level-cross-ing accident. The car in which we were riding arrived at the Clarence Road level crossing not long after the warning lights had started flashing. We were about fourth in the queue on “our” side of

the seven tracks, but a long line quickly built up behind

And there we sat, and waited. And waited. For nearly five minutes the lights flashed, the bells rang, and not a darned thing appeared. Eventually, a few cars broke from the queue, drove up to the crossing, stopped, looked, and went across. Once one did it, many others followed suit. It’s illegal, of course, but it’s also totally understandable.

Finally a goods train did appear, and rumble across, after half a dozen or more cars had gone against the lights. If you hold people up for so long with no apparent reason, it’s not surprising if they go on anyway. I know that in our car, we were wondering if the lights had jammed, and had nearly convinced ourselves that they had. If the railways want to wreck any faith people may still have in crossing signals, this is as good a way as any to do it. Best of all, I wish they’d keep their trains off the roads.