THIS IS WHAT happens when cars and trains collide, and it isn’t pretty.
The photo shows the aftermath of a car driving through a level crossing near Castlebar, Co Mayo. The only problem was the 15.35 Dublin-Westport train that was moving through the crossing at the same time.
The accident happened in June 2014 and is the subject of an impressively detailed report on the part of the Railway Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport.
It seems that the locals around the level crossing at Knockaphunta had been in the habit of leaving the gates guarding the tracks up at all times for ease of access.
Well, as the saying goes it’s all fun and games until someone drives their Toyota Auris through a level crossing without stopping or checking to see if there’s a train coming.
All’s well that ends well though – the driver was fine (somehow) and now the situation has been resolved… by, erm, putting in a new stop line.
Still, you would imagine there’s at least one more driver out there who’ll be taking the Rail Cross Code seriously from now on.
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