Pointing at the train passing through, she said: \u201cThis is case in point of why we need to remove these level crossings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really dangerous,\u201d co-leader Marama Davidson added.<\/p>\n
Police said the incident was \u201cconcerning\u201d and inquiries were made to track down the motorist.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice followed up with the driver who was apologetic for the error and aware of the dangers posed by their driving,\u201d Auckland city west area commander Inspector Jacqui Whittaker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are glad no one was hurt as a result of their actions.\u201d <\/p>\n
The driver has been issued an infringement notice for failing to stop for a red signal at a level crossing.<\/p>\n
Whittaker reminded motorists that railway level crossings are not the place to take chances. <\/p>\n
\u201cFailing to obey warning systems puts your life and the lives of others in danger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no excuse for not stopping and waiting: no destination is worth risking your life for.\u201d <\/p>\n
KiwiRail chief metro officer Bevan Assink said trains travel faster than they appear to and take much longer to stop than people realise. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis type of behaviour is incredibly reckless and while we are pleased no one was injured, this action could have had serious consequences. <\/p>\n
\u201cBarrier arms are only lowered when a train is approaching. If the barriers are down, stop and wait. Never drive around or under them. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven close calls can take a huge toll on train drivers and all those involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Failing to stop for a red signal at a level crossing carries a $150 infringement.<\/p>\n
The Greens said removing crossings means Auckland Transport can run more than 12 trains an hour on the Western Line, which it currently cannot do.<\/p>\n
Between 2013 and 2023, almost 70 crashes, more than 250 pedestrian near-misses and 100 vehicle near-misses occurred at level crossings across Auckland city.<\/p>\n
The Green Party said removing the rail crossings also reduces congestion. Currently, during peak-hour traffic, the barriers are down for about 30% of the time, causing delays for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pointing at the train passing through, she said: \u201cThis is case in point of why we need to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22124,74,9344,1558,8046,9525,4766,48054,63728,19552,2837,19631,2518,42,57980,25449,119536,43,11552,4762,49541,3512,13743,35970,210,40,38,41,39,11685],"class_list":["post-632003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-22124","tag-after","tag-announcement","tag-been","tag-camera","tag-caught","tag-conference","tag-crossing","tag-crossings","tag-driver","tag-during","tag-fined","tag-green","tag-headlines","tag-infringement","tag-level","tag-nearmiss","tag-news","tag-notice","tag-party","tag-press","tag-racing","tag-sent","tag-signal","tag-through","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-train"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}