New safety measures at level crossing welcomed

Extra safety measures at Polegate Level Crossing, where an elderly woman was struck by the barriers, have been welcomed by the town's MP Maria Caulfield.
Gillian Clare and Peter Cox at Polegate Railway crossing where Gillian's mother was struck on the head by one of the barriers (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180118-094947008Gillian Clare and Peter Cox at Polegate Railway crossing where Gillian's mother was struck on the head by one of the barriers (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180118-094947008
Gillian Clare and Peter Cox at Polegate Railway crossing where Gillian's mother was struck on the head by one of the barriers (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-180118-094947008

There are motion detectors at the crossing which prevent all barriers shutting when an object is detected.

However, they currently will not pick up anything within 25cm of the barriers, to prevent the movement of the barriers interfering with the sensors.

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Network Rail engineers spent seven hours adjusting and testing the settings to successfully reduce this zone where nothing will be detected to only 14cm.

This will increase the area on the crossing were people will be detected, lessening the likelihood of barriers closing on them.

The amber warning sequence is still planned for extension from three to five seconds and the red lights will also now be extended from five to seven seconds.

This will give a total of four seconds extra before the barriers start to come down.

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Network Rail is also going to install stickers on the inside of the barriers that stop road traffic so that if pedestrians are walking towards them when they come down they will see arrows pointing them to exit via the barriers that come down last.

Mrs Caulfield said, “I am pleased that Network Rail continue to take this issue so seriously are continuing to find ways to make Polegate Level Crossing safer for local residents.

“These further improvements to the safety of the crossing should prevent what happened to Mrs Tarrant from ever happening again.”

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