Confronting vision of near misses with pedestrians on the rail network has been released as part of a campaign urging South Australians to be more cautious around trains and trams. 173 close calls have been reported across Adelaide Metro's train and tram network so far this year, a number the government says is far too high.
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00:00A moment of impatience, that could have ended in disaster.
00:08The emotional impact on our drivers of these near misses is horrific.
00:14These are just a few of the many close calls train and tram drivers have experienced so
00:19far this year.
00:21Now as part of Rail Safety Week, the government is releasing the alarming footage in an effort
00:27to get pedestrians to think before they cross.
00:32Train driver Adam McCush says near misses happen almost daily.
00:36It happens too often, we see it all.
00:39We see people look at the train like, oh I want to beat it, and they run.
00:42So far this year, 123 close calls have been recorded across South Australia's train network,
00:48as well as 50 near misses with Adelaide trams.
00:52Statistics drivers like Adam say are far too high.
00:55It's life changing for many people, something like that happens.
00:58Just stop, pay attention, it's a train line.
01:02Some of our drivers don't come back to work, that's the consequence of this.
01:07A typical passenger train weighs around 140 tonnes and can travel at speeds of up to 110
01:13kilometres an hour.
01:15That means at full speed, a train would need almost half a kilometre of track to be able
01:20to stop safely in an emergency.
01:24That increases to more than a kilometre for freight trains, which can weigh up to 10,000 tonnes.
01:30Make sure that you don't put yourself in a situation where you're trying to beat a train
01:33or a tram, because you will not.
01:35And don't do it to our drivers.
01:36If you don't follow the rules, you can ruin Adam's life forever.
01:40We shouldn't have to come to work and worry about, are we going to hit somebody today,
01:42is someone going to run across in front of us.
01:44It shouldn't be part of our job.
01:45An important reminder that real life doesn't rewind.