Aslef are asking drivers to slow down to 20mph for level crossings, thinking they're unsafe. Surely Aslef should consider what's making them unsafe, such as idiots like this. Network rail has been investing huge amounts of money in advertising campaigns, graphic ones I might add, telling you not to run the risk. I would suggest posting adverts at level crossings, just to be absolutley sure.
And what good would that do?
The great Modern Malaise is the thought
"it wouldn't happen to me, and even if it does it would be someone else's fault". You can post and screen all the warnings you like but it won't change people's behaviour one iota.
You are correct that the problem with level crossings is ignorance and abuse, but the solution remains elusive. Abdicating responsibility for safety to Nitwit Rail on the basis of a few TV "adverts" is borderline negligence. If I see people around a gated or open foot crossing I will always whistle up and cover the brake just in case. If they still step out in front of me I will knock off the power and go for a full service brake application, being ready to go for emergency if it looks like being particularly tight. You certainly don't carry on running at them at full bore smug in the knowledge that they're just being eejits.
Perhaps the Aslef position is a little extreme, but you have to ask the question who is taking the question of crossing safety seriously. Aslef are simply trying to protect their members from the trauma of a fatality.
If a driver is to suffer a horrid incident on a crossing, all I can say is that unless the person was unconscious, tied to the tracks or pushed, you really must not allow it to affect you.
Easier said than done, obviously. We all react in different ways and many don't know until put in that situation, but there are idiots out there and they cannot and MUST not ruin your life.
And there speaks the non-driver.
You bet it's easier said than done. I've already had one suicide die under my wheels, and you never get away from the fact that someone has just suffered a horrible and violent death underneath YOUR train. It doesn't matter whether this is the result of their own deliberate actions, ignorance or stupidity, it's a f***ing big shock and something that will live with you for the rest of your life. The vast majority of railway fatalities are suicides, but that really is cold comfort to the driver who has just had the misfortune to mow one down.
What affect it has on you in both the long and short term is down the type of person that you are and the support that you receive. Most drivers will come back to work, but some do not.
O L Leigh
hock: Now these are definitely level crossing "near misses"... 
