Minister inspects fatal railway crossing
2011-06-15
Lise Beyers
THE Simonsvlei railway crossing near Paarl will not be getting a warning light. This became clear during a visit of the Western Cape minister of transport and public works, Robin Carlisle, to the site last week. This crossing has hit the headlines due to two fatal accidents taking place here during the past eight months. Four weeks ago Joanessa José (48) died when his vehicle collided with an on-coming train. And seven months prior to this, a mother of two young girls, Sorette Fourie, died the very same way. This and other fatal collisions in 2010 led to an outcry about railway-crossing safety which led to Minister Carlisle setting up a task-force to investigate all level crossings in the Western Cape. During Thursday’s visit, Carlisle took a closer look at the safety aspects of this specific crossing, noting that it did indeed comply with safety regulations. He added, however, that most accidents between motor vehicles and trains are due to vehicle driver negligence. “Investigation shows that in nearly all such crashes the driver of the vehicle is at fault. This is an attitude which we must change. “We are working closely together with Transnet and MetroRail to ensure that there are no fatal accidents for the next year.” There are no plans to install a warning light at the crossing, which does not carry a high volume of vehicle traffic and where there are no impediments preventing drivers from viewing the track for oncoming trains. “I would like to challenge motorists to help me and the Task Team to have a fatality-free year from this year’s International Level Crossing Awareness Day to next year’s. “During my visit this morning I noticed a marked improvement in driver behaviour. “The last time I was here, most drivers simply drove across the stop and onto the railway tracks without stopping, with the result that about 200 fines were issued. Today almost every motorist obeyed the rules of the road. “The Level Crossing Task Team assigned engineers to inspect the six most dangerous level crossings in the province. They did this and made short, medium and long term interventions. Finally, camera technology is being tested and law enforcement presence has also been increased significantly.”
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