“Lithuanian Railways” performed today interesting test, in order to improve safety at railway crossings. 260-ton Train (locomotive) crash into a parked Saab onto train tracks with ~40kmph. In the Saab is set up the test dummy. Next year is planned a similar experiment, but with faster train – ~90 km/h.
Rail level crossing safety is the industry’s number one safety priority. Level crossings are the point where the railway has the least amount of control over people’s actions.
Here’s how it was on today’s test:
In many cases road users are not even aware of the presence of a level crossing. Inside a truck or a car there can be many distractions which mean that the driver is not necessarily looking for a train. And most importantly is the fact that road users rarely expect trains to arrive at level crossings. It is therefore not uncommon for road users to say that they were taken by surprise that there was a train approaching them. Having members of the public on a railway and being surprised by an arriving train creates a very hazardous situation.
the Dummy lost her head!