KEY POINTS:
Rail network operator Ontrack is using a gambling analogy to try to convince motorists not to take a punt on their lives when driving over railway crossings.
Acting chief executive William Peet said Ontrack intended taking a leaf out of the TAB's book with the line "you know the odds, now beat them" regarding motorists and trains.
The warning follows a string of collisions and deaths on rail crossings in recent weeks, most notably one in the central North Island on July 14 which killed a couple and left their daughter an orphan.
Last month a young boy and his sister were killed in the Bay of Plenty when their car crossed in the path of a train.
"We want road users to know how many trains are on the lines around the country so that they can calculate their own odds of defying warning signs and barrier arms to try and beat a train though a level crossing," Mr Peet said.
"Our hope is that they will come to the conclusion it's madness to try."
He said it was disappointing to see a rise in rail-crossing collisions this year, after a decline last year.
Ontrack had in less than two months documented over a dozen cases of vehicles driving through level crossings while ignoring warning devices in the face of oncoming trains.
Mr Peet said: "If you try to beat the train, from the time barrier arms settle in place to protect the crossing, you have at best 10 seconds to get through before the train arrives. There are not many heart beats in 10 seconds - and the odds are your heart won't be beating if you get it wrong."
Overseas research indicated 46 per cent of rail-crossing fatalities were the result of unintended driver error, compared with 22 per cent on roads.
Alcohol played a much smaller part in level-crossing fatalities (9 per cent) than in road deaths (30 per cent).
"The implication here is that while we recognise the need to continue the programme of upgrading crossings, resources devoted to education are just as important."
There are about 1400 public road level crossings in New Zealand, about half of which have some form of electronic warning, but only 260 have barrier arms.
- NZPA
