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Enforcement policy on level
crossings in France
Philippe FELTZ, 16 March 2011
Level crossing enforcement - 2
RFF – the French infrastructure manager
Status
public industrial and commercial undertaking
performs a public sector mission
is not subject to private-sector bankruptcy law
Missions
marketing «train paths» and network operation
planning the network maintenance
developing new lines and enhancing the existing network
raising funds (sovereign debt) including finding innovative funding solutions
Network
One of Europe’s largest and most innovative railway infrastructure networks: 30,000 km of line in operation, including 2,000 km of high-speed line forming the Europe’s most extensive high-speed network.
108,000 hectares (circa 0.2% of the French territory) of land spread over more than 10,000 municipalities.
Level crossing enforcement - 3
How to improve safety ?The French LX safety policy (1/3)
Our investment in 2009 amounted to approximatively around 75 M€ (50% : RFF and Federal government, 50% : local authorities)
That’s not enough to invest on bridges or underpass for closing all of the 18 364 LX ! (5 to 10 mio EUR to close one LX)
So we have adapted our actions to our means, and a new policy was adopted in 2007
Close the « worst » LX by building a bridge or an underpass 216 LX (1% of all LX) representing 20% of all accidents at LX
Improve the LX that have known more than 5 accidents over the past 10 years (200 LX)
And we run a security diagnosis on every LX every 5 year (started in 2009) with the road infrastructure manager
e
Improve visibility
Avoid zig-zag
Reduce speed
Median road separator
Level crossing enforcement - 4
How to improve safety ?The French LX safety policy (2/3)
Upgrade 1 200 LX with St Andrew’s cross (over 4 000 in France) with trains running over 40 km/h
Implement half barriers on LX with train speed over 90 km/h, traffic lights for trains running from 40 to 90 km/h
Research on new equipments, for example yellow box junction markings
To show where the road user should not stop
Awareness we launched our first national awareness Day on June
24th 2008 (the day of the opening of the 10th Level Crossing Symposium 2008 in Paris!)
http://www.securitepassageaniveau.fr
2010 awareness day poster
Yellow markings
Level crossing enforcement - 5
How to improve safety ?The French LX safety policy (3/3)
Enforcement (complementary to education)
we installed automatic speed cameras at 22 LX,
and automatic enforcement camera (red light) at 2 LX (Lagny le Sec around Paris and Hondeghem in the North). 3x fewer misuse from 22 June 2010.
Automatic speed camera, 50 meters before the LX
Red light automatic enforcement camera
Level crossing enforcement - 6
Why increase enforcement on level crossing ?
More than 98% of the accidents at level crossings in France are due to unsafe road user behaviours
Several studies showed that most of the road users know that they have to stop when the red light is flashing on level crossings
… but some of them don’t ! Why ?
We made a new study on behaviour, based on focus groups with road users (in 2009). This focus groups showed that people misuse level crossings for 3 major reasons :
They think that the waiting time is too long at level crossings. In France, normal closing time is about 30 seconds (one of the shortest times in Europe)
They only misuse level crossings that they know well, that they cross every day. They think that they know perfectly how the level crossing works, and when they can cross « without risk » !
And at last, they think that they cannot have a fine.
So, one of our solutions is to increase enforcement, and to inform people that if they misuse a level crossing, they may have an accident, and they can have a fine !
Level crossing enforcement - 7
Enforcement impact on safety ?
In 2003, the French road safety administration launched the automatic speed enforcement cameras
In 2004, the number of collisions and fatalities decreased at level crossings
In 2010, the road safety, with collaboration of RFF, installed automatic « light » enforcement cameras at 2 level crossings
The number of collisions and fatalities also decreased in 2010 by more than 30% (from 22 June).
Nombre de tués et de blessés graves de 1990 à 2010
55
7168
5245
60 60
51 5347
5146
40
61
38 39 40 38 38 36
2520
38
16
34
17
2519
31
21
1318
22 24
14 1319
147
14
2216
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Nb de tués
Nb deblessésgraves
moyenne 10ans (tués)
2 enforcement cameras installed in France for the
first time
Level crossing enforcement - 8
Focus on 2010
The first enforcement camera was inaugurated by the French Transport Secretary on the 22 June 2010, on ILCAD day
Every press article, radio and TV talked about this new enforcement camera, …
… and about the fine : 4 points on the driving license and 135 EUR (the same amount than for a traffic light)
The number of collisions and fatalities decreased just after this operation and this during the last 5 months, it never happened before.
Evolution du nombre de tués 2008, 2009 et 2010
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
janv
fevr
mar
sav
rm
aijui
n juil
août
sept oc
tno
vdé
c
cumulé 2008
cumulé 2009
cumulé 2010
Level crossing enforcement - 9
RFF video in 2011
..\..\VIDEOS PARTNERS\RFF clip_kamini_ipodhq 2011.m4v
RFF has a responsible for LX issues in each French region. The region of LYON decided to make a video for young people misusing the level crossings and the tracks in general to aware them on the dangers. They asked a famous young black singer Called KAMINI discovered through the French social network some years ago to sing the message on a kind of cartoon. He says: «Joue pas au Con ! = Don’t play the fool! The train, it’s good when you are inside, if you are underneath it is because you have made a mistake!When the red light is flashing at a LX it is like when the police says: don’t move… »
Level crossing enforcement - 10
Thank you for your attention
Philippe FELTZ
+ 33 6 86 30 38 01
