The lopsidedness of security issues in road and rail traffic
On December 11th, 2023 the Dutch Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport issued their annual report on railway safety. It is stated that in 2022, 21 more serious accidents have occurred. They caused 4 fatalities and 4 seriously injured victims. 8 of 21 accidents were at level crossings. They caused 50% or two of the 4 fatalities, the car drivers. The ILT expressly points out that the safety of the Dutch railways is one of the highest in Europe.
Secured level crossing. There is no way of crossing here without bad intentions
570 of the 2252 level crossings in the Netherlands are still unsecured. The ILT concludes that there are less accidents because the number of level crossings is reduced. This is certainly true. However, the question arises why such accidents are counted as railway accidents at all. The blame in such a case almost always lies in the irresponsible and reckless behavior of the car driver or in car failures, not in the behavior of the train or the security facilities at the level crossing. Accidents should be statistically recorded in a way that the culprit is clear since correctional measures should be directed towards those causing the accident, and not those being involved without their fault.
Platform access in a station in Czech republic. A situation which would drive ILT crazy. There are never any accidents
Level access to a platform in the Netherlands. Lots of fences, barriers necessary for safety
On the contrary, the ILT places the responsibility fully on the railway. In their conclusion, they require the development of a risk assessment method for level crossings. If, like in any other legal procedure, the cost by cause principle would be applied, then the risk assessment would have to be done by the institution causing the risk, i.e. the department owning the road. On basis of their risk assessment the road would have to be closed, secured level crossings introduced, but also measures like speed limits or stop signs at level crossings.
Railway bridge between Rotterdam and Delft. To minimize the risk of accidents the cycle path got a separate bridge to the left. The original trail along the railway bridge is closed
Remarkably enough the ILT is looking at industry, air and water traffic but does hardly look at road safety. That is strange because roads are part of traffic and “leefomgeving” (living environment) for which according to its name they are responsible for. However, they do know why they do not want to be responsible for road traffic. Because when they would apply the safety principles for railways onto road traffic there would not be any moving vehicles left on the road.
A fence had to be installed in Den Haag HS station because there is a 2 cm curb in the platform floor. Applying the same to sidewalks and roads there would be fences everywhere
The lopsidedness not only concerns traffic deaths. ILT is also responsible for the control of the transport of dangerous goods. Here they also look at transports of dangerous goods on the road. There is an international regulation for that type of transports, they have to be reported and ILT is responsible for monitoring it. While there is a big concern about the safety of these goods when transported on railways, nobody seems to care about hundreds of trucks with gasoline and other dangerous stuff which render the road unsafe every day, frequently right in the neighborhood of schools and living quarters. While there is a statistic about the number of incidents when transporting dangerous goods by rail (none in 2022) there is no statistic about the incidents when such transports use the road. If you search for it on their website you almost exclusively find entries about rail safety. While they produce a yearly report on railway safety there is nothing about road safety and other than certain topics like licenses for taxis, trucks and buses they are not dealing with it.
Plenty of space on the platform: Eindhoven central
While the Dutch railways were involved in 4 deaths in 2022 there were 745 death caused by traffic accidents in 2022. Of these were 290 cyclists and 221 car drivers.
Countryside road. There is hardly enough space for a car. Speed limits are ignored. Passing is a risk
In this case the blame is put on the cyclists, in particular older cyclists above 75. However, only very few of the dead cyclist fall on their own. Of 290 dead cyclists, 141 were hit by a car, 28 were hit by buses or trucks and 37 by other vehicles.
Most Dutch railway lines are separated from the adjoining countryside. If there is no ditch then there is a fence
If the cost by cause principle would be applied here there would have to be a completely different way of looking at road safety. The security of roads next to cycle paths or sidewalks must be reassessed. While railways are separated from the surroundings by fences even in the most remote areas no such a thing is done for roads. Of course it is clear that it is impossible to put a fence between each country road and a cycle path or between a street in the city and a pedestrian sidewalk. However, roads and streets with cycle paths or sidewalks next to it or where cyclists or pedestrians have to use or cross the road should have drastic speed limits, speed bumps, wide separation strips or narrow speed limiting sections. Pedestrian and cycle path crossings of streets and roads should be secured comparable to level crossings for railways since such points are high accident risk areas and cost many more fatalities as comparable railway level crossings. If traffic lights are missing, stop signs, speed bumps or other means of slowing down traffic have to be introduced. Automatic surveillance by cameras and automatic fining should be applied to ensure that the rules are obeyed to. At the same time crossing streets at non-secured points should be forbidden and made more difficult or impossible.
Pedestrian crossing for tram line and busy street. A little lack of attention is sufficient for a serious accident even at a Zebra crossing
There is no risk assessment method for road traffic at all. Such a plan was called for by the Association of Dutch Municipalities in 2022 but there were no steps towards its implementation. On July 8th there was a discussion about traffic safety in the Dutch parliament. The parliament had set aside 2 minutes for the death of hundreds and the injuries and mutilations of thousands.
City street in The Hague. There is no bicycle path. The parked cars render the situation even more confusing
There are reports about how to cut the amount of traffic causalities in the Netherlands to half by 2030. But even half of the present amount, i.e. around 350, is absolutely unacceptable.
As possible measures the report lists mandatory helmets for light mopeds, informative Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), Advanced Emergency Braking (AEB) and road pricing. That sounds a bit like science fiction since neither ISA or AEB are in practical use and with an average age of the Dutch car fleet of 11.4 years these features will never be implemented to a sufficient degree in 2030. There is no consideration of reduced speeds, reduced amount of traffic or a better separation of different traffic participants.
There is no way a car driver would recognize the dark chaps on time
Why is there such an exaggerated obsession with railway safety while hundreds of traffic causalities on the road are taken as acceptable? Many safety measures introduced for the railways seriously hamper reliable transport. Unreliable trains cause travelers to use their cars with the consequence of an even higher number of causalities.
In a nocturnal city full of lights even a cyclist with lights is barely visible
Riding bicycles was regarded an important means to reduce energy consumption for traffic. The inclination of riding a bike is not increased when it gets unsafer. And cycling is not made more attractive when cyclists are forced to take measures to make cycling safer like wearing a helmet. The cost by cause principle requires that the blameworthy have to be made responsible and that is the drivers of motorized vehicles. There are plenty of measures which could be taken there. They might hurt the automotive community, but this pain is nothing compared to the death of hundreds and the injuries and mutilations of thousands.
Night scene at Amsterdam CS
