A hugely successful Level Crossing Awareness Event was held at Spondon Level Crossing on Saturday 12th October.
The event was organised by Network Rail with the aim of raising awareness of safety issues at Spondon's level crossing on Station Road.
With officers from Network Rail and British Transport Police Officers, CCTV surveillance was carried out and crossing users were given advice and information on the safe operation of the crossing and a number of safety improvements were identified.
Although staff did report that the traffic at the crossing did not seem as busy as usual, the MSV recorded a vehicle count of 2903 vehicles between 8.30am and 2pm and recorded 1 HIT (a Red Light Violation) which is now being processed for prosecution.
One driver from a nearby business was also given suitable advice by PCSO Poulson regarding road traffic offences after driving down the wrong side of the road to avoid waiting in the stationary traffic whilst the barriers were down.
The response from drivers about our presence was in all extremely positive, the main concerns from drivers were their fears around cars speeding down Station Road and all staff in attendance witnessed the excessive speed of some vehicles on the approach to the crossing and some driving on the wrong side of the road to access the nearby housing estate.
A number of positive actions were identified following our event:
- Councillor Poulter and Mandy Douglas, DCC will contact Derby City Council Highways Department about getting additional signage to warm drivers to ‘slow down’ etc and also request that the white line markings are improved on Holme Lane outside the Celanese building (please see picture 3)
- Vinny Briggs, NWR Route Level Crossing Manager will work with the Derby City Council Highways Department to assist in getting the vegetation cut back to improve visibility of the wig wags on the approach and make the crossing area more presentable.
- Nick Blackwell, NWR Level Crossing Manager will request that the STOP line is improved on Holme Lane as it has been worn away due to wagons turning into Celanese.
- Liz Reedy, NWR Community Safety Manager will visit local schools to do some Railway & Level Crossing Safety education and also support the DCC Neighbourhood Teams current Safety Campaigns in partnership with Mandy Douglas.
- Liz Reedy, will await contact from Kate and Pauline Latham OBE MP about how we can work in partnership to raise awareness of the importance of railway and level crossing safety.
Many thanks again to everyone who took time out to support our event.
From Liz Reedy, Community Safety Manager, London North Eastern & East Midlands Route, Network Rail
