NSW: Cameras not the answer to preventing rail crossing deaths

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2001
NSW: Cameras not the answer to preventing rail crossing deaths

Red light cameras are of little use at level rail crossings if all they do is provide
a snapshot of a car being flattened by a train, a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry
has been told.

Chief Superintendent RON SORRENSON, the Commander of the Traffic Services Branch, says
priority should be given to improving level crossing design instead.

The Staysafe Committee is conducting public hearings into the safety of the state's
1,600 level railway crossings after the deaths of five young men at a crossing near Albury
last year.

Superintendent SORRENSON says the key to averting such accidents is ensuring collisions
are prevented by design rather than resorting to often ineffective punitive measures.

He says some 80,000 people drive through red light cameras each year.

Superintendent SORRENSON says in country areas trains are rarely seen coming and people
tend to take the chance and go through crossings, despite the red lights.

AAP RTV maur/jjs/dl/jh

KEYWORD: CROSSINGS (SYDNEY)

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.