Skip to main content

New guidelines on level crossing safety to help save lives

Road transport organisation the IRU, the International Union of Railways (UIC) and Operation Lifesaver Estonia (OLE) have joined forces to raise awareness about level crossing safety amongst transport professionals. Their recently-published Level Crossing Safety aims to raise awareness of professional drivers of how to avoid risks potentially leading to a collision and reduce related accidents at this key interface between road and rail infrastructure. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
May 10, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Road transport organisation the IRU, the International Union of Railways (UIC) and Operation Lifesaver Estonia (OLE) have joined forces to raise awareness about level crossing safety amongst transport professionals.

Their recently-published Level Crossing Safety aims to raise awareness of professional drivers of how to avoid risks potentially leading to a collision and reduce related accidents at this key interface between road and rail infrastructure.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 1968 Convention on Road Traffic and the Highway Code, states that “trains have priority, whilst road users and pedestrians must comply with road signs and signals in order to cross safely and consequently prevent any collision arising from misuse or inappropriate behaviour and potentially endangering train passengers, crew and other users.”

Global freight and passenger traffic, both road and rail, have increased markedly in recent decades, increasing the risks of collisions at level crossings and, in addition to raising driver awareness, the three organisations hope to enhance knowledge and safety in their design and use.

Related Content

  • Call for Juncker to reverse decision to drop serious road injury target
    June 10, 2015
    More than 40 European organisations concerned with road safety, together with 11 members of the European Parliament have sent a letter to President Jean-Claude Juncker urging him to not drop setting new EU target to cut serious road injuries. The letter was sent yesterday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), ahead of Thursday's meeting of national transport ministers in Luxembourg where the target was set to be announced. The European Transport Safety Council has learnt that the announcemen
  • With C-ITS we can get ourselves connected
    June 27, 2025
    Workzones need to be safer for drivers and workers – and the technology exists to harmonise safety with mobility needs, says Swarco’s Daniel Lenczowski
  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.
  • ITS homes in on cycling safety
    April 9, 2014
    A new generation of ITS equipment is helping road authorities get to grips with cycle safety – and not a moment too soon as Colin Sowman discovers. Cyclists - remember them? Apparently not. At least not according to the OECD 2013 report Cycling, Health and Safety which contains the statement: ‘Cyclists are often forgotten in the design of the road traffic system’. Looking through the statistics that exist (each country appears to compile them differently) it is not difficult to see how such a conclusion cou