Again and again, motorists drive over the track at level crossings that are not barred, thereby endangering their lives.
Attention was drawn to this danger in Holzkirchen.
Holzkirchen - 240 tons thunder at 100 km / h from the direction of Warngau (district of Miesbach *) to the south: A railcar of the Bavarian Regiobahn (BRB) stamping in the direction of Schaftlach.
At the small level crossing at the level of the sports airfield, the St. Andrew's crosses flash red, the train honks and brakes fully shortly before the intersection with the road.
A loud squeak screeches over the meadows, but the train hardly slows down, it feels like an eternity before the colossus of steel and glass finally comes to a stop - after 200 meters.
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Train driver Stefan Neubeck has just observed the emergency braking of a train on the Bavarian Regiobahn.
© Johannes Welte
Demonstration by ADAC, BRB and police: danger at level crossings
"If a car had just tried to cross the level crossing here, it could have been fatal for the occupants," reports Stefan Neubeck (54), railcar driver of the BRB, who today observes as a spectator how long it takes for a train to arrive Full braking comes to a stop.
Today it is just a demonstration with the BRB, ADAC and police want to show how difficult it is for a train to brake for cars that cross a level crossing despite flashing St. Andrew's crosses.
The train driver describes a dramatic accident: the family is seriously injured
Neubeck experienced last year near Lochham himself: A car drove in front of the train: “I was on the drive from Warngau to Holzkirchen, my last one that day.” Neubeck saw a car from a distance from the left approached the railroad crossing at high speed.
"But then I no longer had a view because trees and buildings blocked the view of the level crossing."
The car was standing in front of the train as if out of nowhere.
The train hit the car, hurled it against a station guard's house, which, like the Peugeot, was shattered by the impact.
The driver (28), his co-driver (22) and a child (four months) were seriously injured.
The fire brigade had to cut the trapped mother out of the car.
No chance for a train driver: Accidents at level crossings over and over again
Neubeck: “The family was still lucky in the misfortune.” Others have not: Last year eleven people were killed in 50 accidents at level crossings in Bavaria.
95 percent of these accidents are caused by drivers.
The train drivers hardly have a chance to prevent the accidents.
Neubeck "Although our trains have state-of-the-art braking systems with a kind of anti-lock system, each wheel only has one contact surface with the rail the size of a fingernail, and the faster the train, the longer the braking distance."
Danger at the level crossing: "Risk awareness is falling"
In Bavaria there are a good 3,000 level crossings, more than in any other federal state.
In the Oberlandbahn area, only 50 of 80 crossings have a barrier, the others have a St. Andrew's cross, often with a flashing light.
Why do so many drivers try to cross the tracks quickly in front of a train?
"Usually it is time pressure and the misconception that the situation is under control," reports Rüdiger Lode from ADAC Südbayern.
It is not uncommon for a dangerous routine to prevail: "If nothing happens the
same time, risk awareness
drops."
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