Regional motorists are being urged to obey the rules and stay safe around level crossings, after joint enforcement in regional areas resulted in 80 driver fines for ignoring signals about approaching trains and for speeding.
The State Government is committed to lowering road fatalities toward zero, and part of that includes making level crossing safer for everyone.
It is investing $7.3M a year through the Level Crossing Improvement Program to accelerate upgrades of priority public level crossings and through level crossing safety education and enforcement campaigns.
The safety message comes as Rail Safety Week begins, a reminder to be safe on and around the rail network.
There were five collisions between trains and road vehicles at level crossings in NSW last financial year including a single fatal collision at the Twigg Road Yenda level crossing last September.
There were also 74 near hits between trains and road vehicles at level crossings in NSW.
Across in the past 10 years there have been 69 collisions between trains and vehicles at NSW’s 1,307 public road level crossings, resulting in nine deaths and nine serious injuries.
Some 64 of those crashes occurred in regional NSW.
Motorists who gamble with their safety at level crossings face three demerit points and a $562 fine.
