Viscount Tenby
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Railways: Level Crossings
Viscount Tenby Excerpts(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Earl Attlee
My Lords, the biggest problem with level crossing safety is the behaviour of pedestrians, particularly when they get distracted. All four fatalities that occurred last year were behaviour-related and almost exclusively involved a distraction problem. The best thing that Network Rail can do is to educate people, so that sounds like rather a good strategy on its part.
Viscount Tenby
My Lords, is the Minister satisfied that the legislation regarding people who deliberately flout the regulations on level crossings is sufficiently draconian?
Earl Attlee
My Lords, the noble Viscount’s question links in very well with that of the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner. It is of course a very serious motoring offence to zigzag around the barriers, but you need to have the evidence to prosecute. The noble Viscount makes a good point, and that is what we are working on.