The driver of the train which collided with a car recently near Masterton said he was “shocked” when the car crossed the tracks directly in front of him.
Yesterday, KiwiRail released footage of the train colliding with the car as a way to remind people to be cautious when approaching railway crossings.
Locomotive engineer Stephen Brabender said of the accident: ‘It was just shock, amazement, disbelief.”
He said after looking at the footage himself, he saw the driver of the vehicle had attempted to “swerve away” to avoid getting hit.
“Unfortunately for her there was nowhere else she could go either.”
“From the point of impact to the time that we came to a stop was about 120-130 odd metres.
“You’ve got absolutely no idea up until the point you go back and see the state the particular person is in. You just hope for the best, you expect the worst.”
The video was taken in the North Island and released by KiwiRail to highlight safety around level crossings. (Source: 1News)
He said all drivers deal with near misses and collisions differently, and these incidents happen more often than people would expect.
“For myself there was a case of three others in the cab. Most of the time, you don’t have that luxury of having another guy there to talk about it, so you end up ringing your workmates,” Brabender said.
“It’s not just us it affects, it’s the family. These people have a family. Then you take a look at the emergency services. They’re the ones who have to deal with the aftermath. I’ve had workmates who have had more than one fatality on one day.
“I can think of an ex-workmate who is retired and he hit a car north of Waipukurau and that vehicle exploded into a fireball and there was nothing he could do and he had to watch these people pass away.”
Meanwhile, rail safety campaigner Megan Drayton told Breakfast while the number of collisions involving vehicles are going down, near misses are happening “too often”.
“We probably have between 10 and 20 [vehicle] collisions a year. But as [Brabender] said, every day these guys are having near misses, and every day people are either driving or walking in front of the trains and not paying attention to what is going on around them.”
She said for lots of train drivers, having a near miss is almost as bad as having a collision.
“Their heart races, they can’t get their breathing under control. It’s just a terrible experience for them.”
Drayton added while the drivers are well-supported, and incidents with vehicles are trending down, there is still work to do to try and stop these accidents from occurring.
More than 170 people have died in collisions with trains in the past decade. In the year to June 30, there were 19 collisions and 173 near misses at level crossings.
“Disappointingly, the latest figures show that 95% of collisions and 73% of near misses were at crossings that already have flashing lights and bells or barrier arms installed,” KiwiRail chief asset development officer David Gordon said yesterday.
“This emphasises how important an individual’s behaviour is when it comes to safety around railway tracks.”
