One of the major problems in Railway working is to provide adequate facilities for Roadways crossing the lines and having provided these facilities, to protect the road user from the consequence of coming into collision with railway vehicles. For many reasons, the problem of avoiding such! accidents has invariably devolved upon the railway authorities.
The obvious solution is to avoid crossings, or where this utopian ideal cannot be attained, to cross the railway by means of overbridges or subways. It will be realised however, that geographical conditions and economic considerations very often render this impossible and so it is found that in a great number of cases the roadway crosses the railway by means of what we know as a level crossing, that is a crossing where the roadway and railway tracks are on the same plane.
Having accepted this means of crossing the line, the question of protection had then to receive con- sideration.
On country lines where both road and railway traffic is light, open crossings, that is crossings
without any sort of protection, other than notice boards, are used. The safety of this type of crossing is dependent entirely upon the observation and co-operation of engine drivers and road users, and its limitations are obvious.
Where the railway lines are fenced and traffic is heavier, gates have been provided which are not
attended and are operated by road users. Increased safety is assured by the fact that the road user is brought to a stand to operate the gates. But again reliability is dependent on the road users intelligence and co-operation, since if the gates are left open after use, the added safeguard is destroyed.
This in turn led to the stationing of attendants at the gates and the provision in some cases of
automatic warning devices of various descriptions.
The attendant is trained in railway working and is familiar with the timetables, so that where visibility is not impeded and traffic is not particularly heavy, this protection provides a reasonable degree of safety.