It is every motorist’s nightmare to accidentally strand your car on the track. It happened on Tuesday at a railway crossing in Oisterwijk. Fortunately, the driver escaped unscathed, but her car was extensively damaged. It’s not the first time something like this has happened. But what should you do if you find yourself in such a situation?
A little reassurance. The chance that you will get stuck on the track is small. “Actually, a car can’t just turn off,” car mechanic Marc Bressers reassured us earlier. “And the chance of it happening right on the track is zero.”
According to Bressers, accidents often occur due to human error. “They don’t know their car well enough or they panic when the car stalls. And when we panic, we often get a error and we’re going to do the wrong thing.”
Things went wrong in Oisterwijk when the woman drove from Joannes Lenartzstraat to Haarenseweg. Instead of crossing the railroad crossing and then turning, she turned right at the crossing, ending up on the tracks.
READ ALSO: Woman takes wrong turn and ends up on track with car
In modern cars, for example, it can happen that the car applies the electric handbrake after turning. “Just like with an old-fashioned handbrake, you simply press the button down again and then it releases. But sometimes people forget that the handbrake can be on.”
What can also cause confusion is the start-stop system in modern cars. The engine in those cars switches off when you stop and starts again when you release the clutch. “But sometimes people press that button again when they want to drive away and turn the car off,” the car mechanic explains.
“The battery or gas tank cannot simply be empty.”
According to Bressers, ending up at a railway crossing with an empty battery or petrol tank is unlikely. “When you are driving, the battery is continuously recharged. It cannot simply be empty. And when your fuel light comes on, there is often a few liters left in it. There is a chance that your tank will be completely empty right on the railway line. is one in a million.”
After the accident in Oisterwijk on Tuesday evening, there was debris on and around the track:
If you unexpectedly cannot get your car to start at a railway crossing, there are two things you can do. If the railway bells are not ringing yet, there is still plenty of time to get your car away. “Put it in neutral, release the handbrake and you push it right off the track.” According to Bressers, this was done in a few seconds.
“Call 112 immediately, then it may be possible to intervene.”
If the railway barriers are already closed, you have to get away. “Call 112 immediately, because then action may still be possible,” explains Aldert Baars of ProRail. The emergency number control room is in contact with the railway control room and thus the driver can be warned.
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An earlier version of this article appeared in May 2023.