Safety at Level Crossings

Every year, more than 400 people are killed in over 1200 accidents at road-rail level crossings in the European Union. Together with tunnels and specific road black spots, level crossings (LC) have been identified as being a particular weak point in road infrastructure, seriously jeopardizing road safety. Safety at LC is a single part of a wider picture of transport safety within the whole transport system. For many years, governments as well as the rail industry and road organizations have been implementing a variety of countermeasures to improve railway level crossing safety. Despite the fact that these actions are substantial and have resulted in a continuing decrease in the number and the severity of level crossing accidents, LC are still identified as being a weak point in road infrastructure, seriously jeopardizing road safety. This constitutes a difficult problem to be solved by Rail companies. Indeed, they cannot control the actions of road vehicle drivers and pedestrians at level crossings.