The accident in which a train split a bus at a railway crossing in Bergen op Zoom must also have been very severe for the driver. For example, at the time of the collision, the driver did not know whether there were passengers in the bus. And the impact of a bus or truck on the driver’s cab is much greater than that of a van or passenger car. Accidents or near misses do not leave train drivers untouched. Jan Slaat also knows that he is the train driver who guides colleagues who have experienced something so violent.
“I think it’s very special that people risk their lives to save time for a few seconds,” says train driver Jan Slaats. He is responding to a near-accident at the beginning of August at the railway crossing in Rijen. A young cyclist was able to jump off his bicycle just in time, otherwise he would have ended up under the train. His bicycle did not survive the collision.
Machinist Jan Slaats has been working as a machinist in Den Bosch for 14 years. He also helps colleagues if they have experienced an accident on the railway. Jan then goes along with the first ride that the driver makes again after an accident.
“Almost every driver has experienced an accident or near miss.”
“I then check whether the driver is comfortable and relaxed on the track. If that is not the case, I go along more often. In fact, you already know when he leaves the first station whether things are going well.”
According to Jan, almost every driver has experienced an accident or a near miss on the track. For example, regularly people are picking blackberries along the track, perhaps not knowing that this is dangerous and that it really scares a driver.
The most common near miss happens at railway crossings at a station, when people want to cross the road quickly. “That is the most dangerous. Then a traveler sees his slow train waiting on the platform and quickly crosses. At that moment an express train can rush past from the other side at 130 kilometers per hour.”
“I don’t know why people ignore alarm signals and put their lives on the line.”
Such a near miss can have a lot of impact, and not just on the operator. “Such a driver sees something popping up in the corner of his eye or, even worse, sees it coming. He then presses the brake hard, but only stops after five hundred meters. Your heart then skips ten times.”
Passengers, but certainly the conductor walking around, suddenly get a push because of the speed that suddenly decreases. “Everything is on edge with the conductor”, Jan continues. “He often goes outside to see what is going on. That is not a pleasant job.”
“Oh dear, another colleague with a heart attack experience richer.”
In the past five years, there have been between one and eight accidents on railways in Brabant. There is an erratic trend in the number of accidents. A spokesperson for ProRail has the impression that it is becoming safer, but also busier, which makes it difficult to draw a conclusion from the figures. Our province still has one unguarded railway crossing and it is located on private property. In total there are 209 level crossings in Brabant.
When Jan read about the near accident in Rijen, he thought: “Oh dear, it’s that time again. Another colleague with a heart attack experience richer. Of course it is a relief that it ended well. Especially when you read that it is a There is always some anger about the stupidity of the road user somewhere. A collision is ultimately something that nobody wants.”
This is an updated version of a story that we published on August 8.
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