Motorists jump railway line red lights

Drivers are continuing to dice with death by jumping red lights and racing through safety barriers at a railway level crossing in a Shropshire town, transport police revealed today.

More than 50 motorists have been prosecuted for breaking the law at Wem in the last five months.Today British Transport Police (BTP) launched a crackdown and released CCTV footage showing a succession of drivers blatantly ignoring the red lights and speeding over the crossing.

The footage shows one impatient driver overtaking another who had stopped at the crossing, taking a huge risk by racing through the crossing as the safety barriers came down.

Police said many had been fined and had penalty points put on their licences - but warned the result of taking such risks could become much graver.

Sergeant Karl Anderson, of BTP, based at Shrewsbury, said: "If you jump a red light at a level crossing there is every chance you could be struck by a train weighing anything up to 2,000 tonnes which could lead to catastrophic consequences.

"It takes up to two kilometres for a train to come to a halt in an emergency.

"We are not talking about people sneaking through when the lights have just started to flash amber, the video evidence shows drivers are going over the crossing three or four seconds after the lights have changed from amber to flashing red.

"Some have even gone through as the safety barriers have started to come down.

"They continue to take huge risks in an attempt to save themselves a few minutes."

In August 2009 BTP and Network Rail launched a crackdown on offenders at Wem after figures showed 69 motorists were caught on camera breaking the law at the site between April and August 2009.

Since the campaign to educate drivers, 53 motorists have been prosecuted for breaking the law at Wem since August 2009.

Last April Network Rail invested £10,000 installing cameras at Wem after fears that a growing number of motorists were prepared to take a risk on the crossing.

By Suzanne Roberts