:: T R A V E L   T I P S   W A ::
:: Don't put your life on the (railway) line

In our vast state of Western Australia there are some 1,500 public railway crossings for motorists to negotiate.
Many of these are in rural areas and the seasonal and sporadic nature of the state's rail activity sometimes makes an impact in the safety stakes.
It is not unusual for regular country drivers to become blase about the likelihood of encountering rail traffic - and if they do, it can be guaranteed that the train will always come out better off. The main thing to remember is that trains always have right of way - generally it is their way.

According to Brian Kidd, Main Roads WA Acting Manager Road Safety Strategy and member of the Railway Crossing Protection Sub-committee, there are five levels of protection on WA roads:

• Give Way signs;
• Stop signs;
• Flashing Lights;
• Boom Barriers and
• Bridges or Tunnels.

Allocation of protection is based on frequency of road and rail traffic, and visibility on approach to the crossing.
"For a give way sign to be adequate protection, a car travelling along a road would need enough visibility to see whether it was safe to make the crossing, taking into consideration the angle of the road," Mr Kidd said.
"A stop sign would be in place when a motorist could not make an appropriate decision on proceeding over the crossing without first stopping to assess the conditions."
Where rail and road traffic is heavier or faster, but where no more than one train can pass through the crossing at a time, flashing lights are installed.
Boom barriers supplement the level of protection provided by flashing lights. You will always find them where there is more than one track crossing the road and where there is the potential for trains to arrive from both directions at the same time.

Frequency
The density and frequency of rail traffic often depends on the time of year and this can cause problems because motorists can't rely on a pattern of use.
Rail traffic in certain areas can also be affected by the size of the grain harvest, the economic climate and which particular type of product is in demand. In other areas where nickel or iron ore is the major commodity, the frequency of rail traffic is more consistent.
And it's worth remembering that trains run 24 hours a day to get their product to port as efficiently as possible.
So don't put your life on the line - watch out for trains.