A “No Second Chances” safety campaign was launched at London Liverpool Street station last Tuesday, 21st April, aimed at 18-34-year-olds.

Over 2,000 adults were surveyed between 8th and 10th April, and the campaign will cover social media, digital platforms, and outdoor advertising, and run to Wednesday, 3rd June.

Nationally, seven out of ten people aged between 18 and 34 are under the impression that if a train approaches them, they would be able to get out of the way.

Also, 98% of them don’t know how long it takes a train to stop in an emergency.

A series of hard-hitting films features in the campaign, which highlights the deadly risks of being distracted when approaching a railway line. Even though 80% of 18-34-year-olds understand the risks, 80% don’t recognise the key warning signs that show a train is approaching.

Each film lasts 20 seconds, and shows the deadly consequences resulting from becoming distracted at level crossings, with the major distractions including:

• Chatting to others (28%).
• Wearing and not removing headphones (26%), compared with 13% for people over 55.
• Using mobile phones (24%).

In London, 65% of people believe they could get out of the way of an oncoming train if it appeared when they were on a level crossing, and 95% don’t know how long a train takes to stop from full speed; a train travelling at 80mph would travel one mile after making an emergency stop.

One of the films is shown below.

Last October, Network Rail released shocking CCTV footage of a level crossing in Norfolk being misused, whilst in Oxfordshire, Network Rail has closed a foot crossing because of the public continuing to misuse it.

“We know how easy it is to get distracted, whether that’s listening to a favourite podcast, looking at your phone or just taking familiar surroundings for granted. But stepping onto a level crossing without stopping to look and listen can be fatal – there are no second chances. That’s why the whole rail industry has come together to launch this first industry-backed campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of not paying attention when approaching a level crossing. It only takes a few seconds to stop, look and listen, that’s it – seconds that could save your life.”

Priti Patel, Chief Health, Safety & Wellbeing Officer at Network Rail