Safety
32 per cent of people think they would hear a train in time to move out of the way according to a Network Rail survey, but this increases to more than half of 16 to 24 year- old males. How wrong they are
A
lthough males make up just less than 50 per cent of the total population, they have accounted for 87 per cent of trespass fatalities
over the past ten years. As part of Track Tests - a new Network Rail safety campaign aimed at young men, UK rapper Wretch 32 and spoken word performer George the Poet took part in a unique experiment to see if they could ascertain the direction of a train through hearing alone. Last year, according to RSSB figures, 41
people lost their lives after trespassing on the railway - a total of 270 in five years - with 16 to 24 year old males making up four out of ten fatalities. Incidents occurred both at stations and along the railway. In the experiment, Wretch 32 and George
the Poet attempted to make a split second decision, relying solely on their hearing to work out which direction a train was coming from as it travelled towards them at 80mph in the dark. The artists were in fact standing in a warehouse where a mocked-up railway with a ‘spoke’ of tracks had been built for the experiment. Sound engineers created a 360 degree surround-sound system to recreate the noise of an approaching train with other distracting noises such as wind and traffic. Wretch and George each stood in the
middle of the spoke and, when they were sure which direction the sound was coming from, they selected a corresponding button. Only then did they find out if were right or
wrong and if they had selected in enough time.
Wretch 32 said: ‘I’ve got 97 per cent
hearing, so should have had a good idea of where sound was coming from. As soon as I stepped into the track test simulator and the normal sounds you’d expect to hear when you’re on the tracks, like traffic noise, were added, I didn’t make it across in time. No matter how much confidence you’ve got in your hearing and speed, when you’re in the dark and a train is coming towards you at 80mph, confidence is not enough to get you across safely.’
Noise pushed sidewards Robin Gisby, Network Rail managing director, network operations, said: ‘Too many people think they would hear a train in time to move clear - tragically we know this isn’t the case. The sound of a train approaching is much quieter than you would imagine with the wheels pushing noise out sidewards rather than forwards and distorting what you hear. Trespass is just not a risk worth taking
and so we hope that Wretch and George can help get this message across and reduce the number of incidents we see each year.’
More Network Rail survey findings: (percentage in brackets 16 to 24 year olds)
• 86 per cent (76 per cent) agree that it is dangerous to be on or next to the railway tracks
• 8 per cent (15 per cent) have friends who sometimes trespass across the tracks
Wretch 32 takes part in the experiment
The survey sample size was 2000 people across Great Britain including 87 males aged 16 to 24
November 2013 Page 63
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140