Rail campaign bid to cut crossing deaths

KEEP SAFE: A massive billboard that resembles a train will be placed at the Wilton Rd level crossing as part of Rail Safety Week. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A CARTERTON level crossing which has claimed two lives in the past 13 years has been chosen as the first site for a new rail safety campaign.

The move will see massive billboards that look like trains placed at railway crossings.

The Wiltons Rd level crossing, which has had two fatalities since 2002 and several near collisions in the past five years, will display the life-sized signs before they are moved to other high risk rural and semi-rural level crossings in New Zealand.

Carterton Mayor John Booth said the new billboard would make the crossing highly visible.

"It's very exciting. We as a council tried to look at whether they would put in barrier arms but it didn't qualify, so it's just fantastic that they are going to do this."

Carterton 15-year-old Grace Ellen Diedrichs was killed when the ute she was a passenger in collided with a train at the crossing in February 2013, and Carterton man Daniel Quin was killed when he was hit by a train in May 2002.

It was good to see something being done to prevent another fatal crash, Mr Booth said.

"It's more about something proactive happening to prevent it happening to another family.

"Even driving over it every day must be a conscious reminder of what happened. So there's something finally happening to avoid that for another family."

Carterton District Council would be replacing the worn rumble strips on the road which warned drivers a level crossing was near, he said.

The council would also install rumble strips at the Matarawa Rd and Moffats Rd level crossings.

The Wiltons Rd crossing is not on the list for an engineering upgrade due to its status on the Australian Level Crossings Assessment Model (ALCAM) register, which is the primary assessment tool for level crossings in New Zealand, and determines priority of upgrades based on risk.

Chief executive of NZTA Geoff Dangerfield said research undertaken late last year indicated that local drivers in rural areas were often complacent, especially around level crossings controlled by stop and give-way signs.

"Local drivers often don't perceive the risk of rural crossings to be high, and this complacency can lead to risky behaviour like failing to carefully look for trains before proceeding over a level crossing.

"We want to get local drivers off autopilot when they approach railway tracks and to accept that crossing railway tracks safely means giving it their full attention."

Wairarapa mayors and representatives from the NZTA, police, KiwiRail and the Wairarapa Road Safety Trust have been invited to attend the unveiling of the new billboard at Wiltons Rd, which is scheduled to take place at 10am today.

About 10 other crossings around the country have been chosen to take part in the campaign.