Jigger on railway crossing

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33804, 29 March 1975, Page 14

Jigger on railway crossing

Sir, — The Railways, not content with providing the most inefficient freight service in the world, are now trying to kill a few people off as well. Yesterday morning, in very heavy fog, with shocking visibility, I approached a railway crossing at the legal speed limit. Suddenly, in front of me, a jigger appeared, with neither the alarm system giving prior warning, nor any lights upon the jigger. There was no sounding of a horn either. In the poor visibility, it was an extremely dangerous action, for the jigger was travelling at no mean pace. The accident was avoided by my jamming on my brakes, but had I not been alert, an accident would have almost certainly resulted. What do our railways have to say about that? — Yours, etc., ALIVE-JUST. March 18, 1975. [Mr P. D. Gilling, acting District Engineer, New Zealand Railways, replies: “In the absence of specific information from your correspondent ‘Alive-just’ I am unable to give a detailed reply to his allegation. Under the provisions of the Railways Act, 1949, rail traffic has the right of way over level crossings and motor trolleys come in the category of rail traffic. It is appreciated that this latter aspect is at times overlooked by road users and for this reason, as well as for their own safety, trolley drivers are expected to take th 6 same care at level crossings as road users.”]