A woman who narrowly avoided death when she attempted to ride across a level crossing in Cambridgeshire at the very moment a train sped through has contacted police after a video of the near-miss went viral on the internet.
The video released by British Transport Police shows the bike rider ignoring the lowered barrier on the left hand side of the crossing, as well as the warning lights. There's no sound on the video, but such crossings are also equipped with bells.
At the very last moment, the cyclist realised her peril, and slammed on her brakes. Luckily, they were working, and it was also her good fortune not to go over the handlebars. Wiping her brow, the cyclist moved over to the side of the road, no doubt shaken by the near miss.
A woman contacted British Transport Police on Thursday, and has made an appointment to speak to them in person on October 9.
The incident took place at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire on Thursday 12 September and the video has been released in an effort to trace the woman as well as to highlight to others the danger of ignoring warnings at level crossings.
PC PC Matt Mildinhall of British Transport Police said: “The footage shows a woman approach the crossing around 6.30pm as the barriers are down. She passes through the barriers and onto the line before braking hard, just seconds before a train passes through.
He added: “We are very keen to speak to the woman in this footage and explain the danger she not only put herself in but others around the crossing at the time.”
A recent safety campaign from Network Rail called Track Tests highlighted research that found that one in three people believe they would hear an approaching train in sufficient time to get out of the way.
Network Rail's Richard Schofield said: “This is one of the closest incidents of near miss we’ve seen. The person using the crossing not only didn’t hear the train but ignored the warning lights and barriers, putting her life, the lives of passengers and the train driver in danger.
“Warning systems at level crossings are there for a reason, to protect users from the railway. I hope the release of this footage will highlight the importance of following the safety advice at level crossings.”
In May last year, Network Rail launched a TV advert called See Track, Think Train to highlight the dangers of level crossings used by cyclists and pedestrians.
The same month, 34-year-old cyclist Phil Dawn from Kirkby-in-Ashfield died when he was struck by a train as he rode through a level crossing between Sutton Park and Mansfield railway stations in Nottinghamshire.
According to police, he was wearing headphones at the time. Network Rail has previously run a campaign fronted by the rapper Professor Green warning of the dangers of listening to music while negotiating level crossings.
However, the father of a teenage girl killed at a level crossing in Essex seven years ago, insisted that it was wrong to place all the responsibility on crossing users.
Chris Bazlinton, whose 14-year-old daughter Olivia was killed along with her 13-year-old friend Charlotte Thompson, told Sky News last year: "The sighting at that time was appalling, you couldn't see anything, you couldn't hear anything.
"The maximum time you could see a train is three seconds from that position.
"They were both quite short and they couldn't possibly see anything so they just stepped out in front, and they were killed instantly."
Network Rail was fined £1 million as a result of breaches of safety legislation in connection with that incident. A footbridge has now been put in place, and the level crossing gates have automatic locking.
Last year, Network Rail announced a £130 million upgrade programme for level crossings, including:
A closure programme which will see 750 crossings removed from the network by April 2014. More than 600 had already been closed by October 2012
Replacing footpath crossings with footbridges
Installing warning lights as an additional safety measure at footpath crossings
A new schools programme – Rail Life – teaching both primary and secondary schoolchildren about how to stay safe when crossing the railway
Rolling out 10 more camera enforcement vans
Investing in new technology including obstacle detection lasers
Introducing new cost effective barriers to open crossings
Employing more than 100 new dedicated level crossing managers
Community safety managers who work closely with local groups, councils and schools to raise awareness.
64 thoughts on “Cambridgeshire cyclist ignores warnings… and just manages to brake before train speeds through”
Lucky cyclist? No that’s a
Lucky cyclist? No that’s a very stupid person that happens to be on a bike.
Stupid people can be cyclists
Stupid people can be cyclists too Bagpuss – if they ride a bike
I live in a village with a
I live in a village with a level crossing. The alarms souns & lights flash for at least 30 seconds before the barriers come down, at busy periods, the barriers can ben down for 5/6 minutes as trains approach from both directions, but there is a footbridge
I am constantly amazed at the amount of pedestrians & cyclists that still try to dash through while the alarms are sounding, 4 times this week alone I have seen people have been in the middle of crossing as the barriers come down, luckily the is a manned signal box & the operator keeps careful watch, will stop the barriers..
But really is walking over a small bridge that much of an effort??
jeeezus, i can’t believe such
jeeezus, i can’t believe such stupidity ….
Karbon Kev wrote:jeeezus, i
Its more common than you think. As with most idiotic behaviour, its not down to mode of transport; you see people trying to get across on foot, on bikes and in cars.
candidate for a darwin award
candidate for a darwin award I think !!
Seems some people prefer to
Seems some people prefer to be dead than late.
Obviously didn’t see the
Obviously didn’t see the cute/sick viral hit, Dumb Ways To Die…
http://dumbwaystodie.com/
…cos this was top of their list.
Don’t know what all the fuss
Don’t know what all the fuss is about.
She would have been fine: she had a helmet on.
Ush wrote:Don’t know what all
Excellent point. I agree.
That’s the point Tony, it
That’s the point Tony, it doesn’t matter how she ended up there, bike, car or on foot. She did something incredibly stupid. Stupidity isn’t restricted to, or defined by a mode of transport.
I’m glad she did stop, as much for her and her family as the driver and passengers on the train and hope she’s wiser now.
it’s just incredible that she
it’s just incredible that she thought she could get across without being hit by the train, the barriers come down for a reason, why is anyone THAT impatient?
No doubt that the cyclist in
No doubt that the cyclist in question was being more than a little stupid, but surely barriers which only cover half the road are bordering on negligent? Network rail have as much responsibility to ensure that the crossing is as safe as possible.
b3nharris wrote:No doubt that
To allow those already on the crossing to get across when the barriers lower?
notfastenough wrote:b3nharris
With double barriers, there is a delayed period of time before the exit ones close, allowing for people currently on the crossing to safely exit.
There is absolutely no reason why all crossing should not have full barriers where there is a road, and locking gates when its a pedestrian crossing.
zanf wrote:There is
But if there were full barriers, how would the railway get these sort of videos to encourage support for its “closure programme” which divide communities like in http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-14444529 ?
b3nharris wrote:No doubt that
We all get taught from the time we are old enough to understand how to cross the road and what to do at level crossings. Anyone who can’t understand how to use them properly shouldn’t be allowed out of the house on their own anyway!
b3nharris wrote:surely
Yet again someone on here trying to find fault with someone else when there is a cyclist involved ~X(
You dont need double barriers on the road, we drive on the left so why put them on both sides ?
People know that when the barrier is down its not safe and if they ignore that then its their own stupid fault.
stumps wrote:b3nharris
I agree Stumps. People don’t need excuses made for them. Take responsibility for your own actions. It annoys me that so many cyclists seem to get tribal and one-sided when it comes to the rights and wrongs on the road. Many of us are not just cyclists, we are pedestrians, motorists, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters etc.
BUT – I do think that double barriers are a safer prospect which prevents this sort
of reckless behaviour..
I also think that part of the problem with barriers is that people don’t trust them to be efficient. I used to do a run around my old town which took me over one and sometimes the barriers would be down for an inaudinate time. Sometimes not. But it raises the question how long will I have to wait ? Though I doubt more information would help because people just rtry to use it to make their own advantage.
stumps wrote:b3nharris
Yet another stupid post by you it seems.
Double barriers are needed on every level crossing.
Surely as a police officer as you claim to be, you’d support double barriers…
stumps wrote:You dont need
Don’t know about you, but when I’m walking I don’t restrict myself to only using the left hand pavement.
farrell wrote:stumps
Which means that if you’re walking on the right hand pavement and you reach a level crossing where the half-barrier is down and the lights and bells are going you continue to walk on?
Of course you don’t!
Or perhaps you do because you really are that stupid. #o
stumps wrote:Farrell – do you
Obviously nobody would ever think that.
Nobody.
Ever.
Except the person that is the reason for this thread and several others that have been cleaned out attempting such things.
I’ve no idea who lobbed a peanut your way, but yes, I am that stupid. In fact, I was killed on a level crossing only three weeks ago, I’ve just come back to haunt you.
stumps wrote:
People know
Why have barriers at all when there are warning lights and sounds?
Because people are stupid. This woman was stupid. But we know people are stupid, so good health and safety builds human stupidity into its systems. It is negligent not to. The railway companies know this, which is why they are gradually removing and upgrading level crossings. Do you think they are wrong to do so?
That’s not defending this cyclist. The previous posters didn’t defend this cyclist. If anyone is having a knee-jerk reaction, I think it may just be you.
In fact, the idea that you need to build human stupidity into systems is the basis of the argument for segregated infrastructure.
HKCambridge wrote:stumps
Why have barriers at all when there are warning lights and sounds?
Because people are stupid. This woman was stupid. But we know people are stupid, so good health and safety builds human stupidity into its systems. It is negligent not to. The railway companies know this, which is why they are gradually removing and upgrading level crossings. Do you think they are wrong to do so?
That’s not defending this cyclist. The previous posters didn’t defend this cyclist. If anyone is having a knee-jerk reaction, I think it may just be you.
In fact, the idea that you need to build human stupidity into systems is the basis of the argument for segregated infrastructure.— stumps
How may i ask am i having a knee jerk reaction when i say you dont need barriers across the whole road, or are you refering to my earlier post towards northstar which to be honest you will not know a jot about and quite frankly is none of your business.
I dont put comments on here to be lambasted by muppets (not you may i add) who seem quite keen to put down most of the things i say because of my occupation without a: knowing me and b: not having the slightest idea about what i do or how i do it.
In all honesty i think i will stick to commenting on the fantasy side only in the future because some of the people who comment here are no better than the dross i deal with on a daily basis. There are a lot who are informative and good craik but there are others who simply want to put down anything they dont agree with and try to trivialise other peoples opinions as though they know it all and everyone else is wrong.
I apologise to the majority of people who are well informed and polite as this is not directed towards them but i’m sure they know that already.
One of the many things I find
One of the many things I find amazing about this: if she was in such a rush to get somewhere fast, why did she turn around and head for the side of the road after she nearly got run over? Surely she should have been hammering onwards to get to wherever it was she needed to be, not taking a minute to ponder the fact she almost got herself killed… 😕
step-hent wrote:One of the
Because she’d blown her chance of the strava segment of course
Damn nearly erased you from
Damn nearly erased you from the gene pool better luck next time you utter f***tard. Only afterwards did she turn around and go back the way she came from why was that to change her underwear??
b3nharris Er sorry mate accept responsibility for your actions there are enough warnings not to cross without double gating or is driving/riding through flashing red lights on the wrong side of the road acceptable because you need to get somewhere??
cidermart wrote:Damn nearly
+1
and
+1
Some people do not take level
Some people do not take level crossing as seriously as they need to.
I live near a few in south west London. When the warning lights and siren come on you will see cars and people speed up to get under the barriers as they come down.
The line often has delays due to a vehicle hitting the barrier (needing engineers to check the site).
I bet she won’t do that
I bet she won’t do that again.
“Britain’s luckiest
“Britain’s luckiest cyclist”… hmmm. I reckon I might be luckier because I haven’t been burdened with such an amazing lack of common sense…
It never ceases to amaze me
It never ceases to amaze me how people will risk life and limb (theirs or someone else’s) to try to cut a few seconds off a journey. Was her trip really that important that it warranted nearly being spread all over the front of a train? If it was that important, she should have left earlier; if it wasn’t, she should get a sense of perspective, sharpish.
Not even wearing a hi-viz.
Not even wearing a hi-viz. Asking for trouble…
Jeezuz
I sincerely hope
Jeezuz :O
I sincerely hope she never gets a driving licence.
Jack Osbourne snr
Where does it say she doesn’t have one already?
Just last week I saw a guy /
Just last week I saw a guy / runnist / joggler almost get lifted off his feet by a barrier he was trying to hurdle (well, when I say hurdle, perhaps clamber is more accurate). No idea what he was trying to achieve. But, I’m sure waiting a few minutes to get his breath back would have improved his run time. Certainly would have been a better achievement than ending it as a dead person.
This sort of stuff makes my brain ache. I think there must be some sort of competition going on out there to see who can be the biggest f***wit!
To call her a stupid cow is a
To call her a stupid cow is a serious insult to cows.
Mind you, I was irritated to see this report on Google News under the ‘Sport’ heading.
As a cyclist surviving 50
As a cyclist surviving 50 years in central London my sympathy is with the train driver…that he braked was a human response but put passengers on the train at risk for an idiot who should have suffered the consequences of her stupidity.
As a cyclist I get this from
As a cyclist I get this from pedestrians all the time, they don’t even bother to look if they don’t hear a car’s engine, it’s really quite unbelievable how natural selection has allowed this sort of thing to exist today – maybe Darwin’s theory has a hole in it somewhere….
Flippin eck, that was
Flippin eck, that was close.
A much more effective reminder for taking proper care than any of those expensively produced TV ad campaigns, cos you know this one is actually real.
Scary.
Trains are big and fast.
Also, what an idiot.
My wife will always go the long way to avoid level crossings as she doesn’t trust them even when the barriers are open, but that might be a bit of an over-reaction. still, she’s never been hit by a train so it must be working.
At least her brakes work.
At least her brakes work.
And she was filtering through
And she was filtering through on the right side, but otherwise completely brainless. Another example of care in the community not workiing?
I used to work for Railtrack,
I used to work for Railtrack, Network Rails predecessor going to local rail committee’s to discuss their concerns and wishes for the line along with the relevant train operators. On one occasion I had to defend the railway network because a young man had done the same thing (in a car) but was not so lucky…..
Not a nice thing to do when someone is dead because they ignored signs, bells and barriers.
Ok, so someone does something
Ok, so someone does something really stupid and ignores obvious safety warnings, and once again it’s Stumpy’s fault as he’s a cop.
I despair.
I regularly use a railway crossing when going to one popular South London cycling facility. The barriers do seem to linger in the down position for some time. I’ve seen a few people crossing when the barriers are lowered as I wait impatiently in the queue, but I’ve never felt the need to rush across with them.
I know train drivers suffer a lot of psychological issues with regard to suicides and accidental deaths from crossing incidents that don’t have such a happey ending as this one. A friend of mine used to work for BR (as it was then) and one of his jobs was to check whether a loco was safe to be moved after it’d hit someone. His description of having to crawl under a loco stopped on the rails and disentangle what was left of a human being from the drive system was rather graphic.
OldRidgeback wrote:Ok, so
You’re confusing two things! Maybe even three!
1. Yes, jumping that crossing was really stupid. I think almost everyone agrees.
2. But why aren’t there full barriers at a crossing that fast/busy? Some quieter ones have them. Misprioritisation in the past?
3. It’s Stumpy’s fault he’s thrashing around with the heavy I-Know-Best boots on again.
a.jumper wrote:OldRidgeback
The rail crossing I go through regularly does have full width barriers as it happens. Even they don’t stop the occasional moron who can’t be bothered to wait and squeezes past or who lifts a bike over the top, and yep, I’ve seen both. Some people really are that stupid. I dislike waiting at railway crossings like everyone else. But after hearing my friend’s description of picking bits of human flesh from the brakes of a locomotive, I’d rather wait albeit impatiently all the same.
Stumpy gets a lot of flak on here and I find it wearing, as I’m sure others do too. I’ve been the victim of a troll on this website and stayed away for quite a long time because of that. It isn’t nice. It isn’t clever. It’s just unpleasant. I’m fed up of keyboard vigilantes with something to prove and who think that they can say what they like as the Internet gives them anonymity.
I’m not aiming that last at you by the way. I don’t know who you are. But there are others who post on this website who certainly need to consider what they say.
So that’s where the ‘wipes
So that’s where the ‘wipes forehead with relief’ thing comes from then…
Ok lets get this straight i
Ok lets get this straight i put comments on here because i want to and personally i dont give a flying fcuk what you, Northstar, think about me or my job but if you get your kicks from trying to be clever fill your boots mate because in the end you are only making yourself look stupid.
And to be honest i have been called a lot worse by people a lot better than you.
Farrell – do you honestly expect myself and others to believe that because there is only one barrier then the other side is safe ????
Do you think she decided to
Do you think she decided to turn back to get some fresh underwear?
I like how she didn’t quite
I like how she didn’t quite know what to do afterwards, from the massive adrenalin injection. Like Uran after his crash at the weekend.
Cooks wrote:I like how she
Uran knew exactly what to do. He finished the race. Back on topic, if a half barrier is good enough, why not dispense with barriers completely, and just have the stop lights?
As far as I am aware there is
As far as I am aware there is a rolling programme to replace single barriers with double barriers.
Perhaps in the meantime window lickers like the lady in the video should not be allowed out on their own.
freespirit1 wrote:As far as I
Window lickers – I like that one – very apt in her case.
Natural selection in action!
Natural selection in action!
This was on Jeremy Vine
This was on Jeremy Vine earlier. It gave the usual mouth-breathers the opportunity to roll out their hilarious generalisations despite Vine mentioning the fact that there were 50% more fatalities to car drivers/passengers than cyclists on level crossings last year.
Was it Emma Way? I mean I
Was it Emma Way? I mean I know she IS a cyclist, and she has that amount of disregard for safety?
It’s a sad state of affairs
It’s a sad state of affairs that you have to write that ‘Stumps’ but =D>
Ignore the cock jockeys and carry on.
cidermart wrote:It’s a sad
+1
Maybe she just thought “I’m a
Maybe she just thought “I’m a cyclist….that red light doesn’t apply to me.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-24401099
The half-barrier design is
The half-barrier design is there to provide that escape route if a car stalls or other problem occurs but puts a major obstruction in the way for going on to the crossing.
NR got fined (Section 3 HSAW – Duty of Care towards non-employees) at Elsenham because the the pedestrian gates were not interlocked with main barriers, and the issue of pedestrian abuse was known about but not addressed.
The death at Little Mill and 2 other cyclist deaths investigated by RAIB all had clear indication that the cyclists had switched off their 24/7 360 degree safety equipment – in the case referred to the cyclist had passed 2 walkers with hood up and audible music to the 2 walkers. They shouted at the cyclist to stop as they arrived at the crossing immediately behind him, but the cyclist gave no reaction to being shouted at, the noise of a train making a full emergency brake application, and sounding the horn full blast. If that doesn’t clearly show the total stupidity of using any form or earphones, or other elements to block your hearing when cycling, walking AND driving then maybe we do need a law to make all drivers drive with a window down and radio/phone speakers at a low volume.
I’ve heard similar stories to
I’ve heard similar stories to your friend’s, Old Ridgeback, from a guy who was running a track walking training course I was attending. The tale of the suicide who put his neck on the track and was beheaded would make your toes curl. Personally I think the railways get too much flak over level crossings. The warning signs, flashing lights, barriers and what is stated in the highway code about level crossing should deter people enough from doing this sort of stupid behaviour.
Where’s Darwin when you need
Where’s Darwin when you need him?