From the train-on-level-crossing crash issue — this kind of thing happens all over the world. We just heard about a near-miss in Florida: a school bus driver ignored red warning signals with 29 students on board. Almost a major disaster. The main causes are level crossings and human error.
Every country with rail systems and level crossings faces the same problem. Europe has over 100,000 level crossings, North America over 200,000. Each year, about 400 people die from level crossing accidents in the EU, and over 300 in the US. Combined globally, it’s thousands per year.
Trains are incredibly heavy and can’t stop quickly. Humans are fuzzy — we make mistakes. What should happen is design that eliminates rail-road intersections from the start — overpasses or underpasses. Besides maximum safety, we also get the bonus of traffic not interfering with each other. Look at Melbourne, which plans to remove 110 level crossings by 2030, or Europe’s high-speed rail systems that have zero level crossings by design.
I’ll say it again: “Fix old systems urgently — new systems should never have level crossings.” I’ve heard the Prime Minister talk about similar issues. Let’s fix it fast — the longer we wait, the more risk.
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Sources: Florida school bus incident, TDRI, Federal Railroad Administration