The 10th edition of ILCAD, the International Level Crossing Awareness Day, was held on 7 June 2018 in Zagreb, Croatia, hosted by UIC, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences (University of Zagreb) and Croatian infrastructure manager HŽ Infrastruktura.
Great success again for ILCAD 2018:
- Behind the scenes over 40 countries participated in the International Level Crossing Awareness Day ILCAD: www.ilcad.org
- 180 delegates from 29 countries (most from the EU, but also from India, USA, Russia, Mongolia, Japan) participated in the ILCAD 2018 launch conference in Zagreb on 7 June 2018
- Various sectors were represented:
Railways, national railway safety authorities (NSAs), members of ministries, academics, railway research centres, industries sponsoring the event
- 30 speakers from 13 different countries
UIC, the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences from the University of Zagreb and HZ Infrastructure (Croatian railway infrastructure manager) were pleased to host the 10th ILCAD international conference on 7 June 2018 in Zagreb, Croatia.
An exhibition of level crossing technologies plus a road/rail safety village had been set up parallel to the conference which were followed by a technical visit on 8 June around Zagreb.
The conference was broadcast on 7 June 2018 on the ILCAD website http://www.ilcad.org/ILCAD-2018.html and the YouTube channel of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences project “Implementation of measures to increase safety of the most vulnerable road users at level crossings”
The video is still available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORTLQJ7bqDg
Message by Ivan Kršić, President of the Board of HŽ Infrastruktura
“We are extremely honoured that HŽ Infrastruktura is one of the organisers and hosts of the 10th International ILCAD conference, which is held this year under the title of Safety of Young People at Level Crossings. As railway infrastructure manager, this is one of our basic determining characteristics and for this very reason, our business activities are directed at improving the quality of the rail network and infrastructure, and thus to the improvement of rail traffic safety level.
Since the conference topic is connected to the safety of the younger population in the railway area, I am very pleased to emphasize that almost 20 years of our engagement in education and promotion is primarily directed at children and young people. We believe that this jubilee ILCAD conference will contribute to strengthening the awareness of how important it is to observe traffic culture and regulations of all traffic participants, especially the younger population, which is the focus of this conference.”
Message by Željko Ukić, CEO of HŽ Passenger Transport LLC
“HŽ Putnički prijevoz joined the campaign organised for the International Level Crossing Awareness Day - ILCAD. This year’s campaign is dedicated to young people who, in today’s hyperconnected world, simultaneously talk to friends, receive messages and calls, play games, make selfies and listen to music via earphones. Such distractions lower the capability to notice one’s surroundings, which, especially in traffic, can lead to serious injuries and accidents which leave young people and their families with permanent psychological and social consequences, while also endangering other participants in road and rail traffic.
The most effective way to change such behaviour and lower risks related to level crossings is the education of young participants in traffic and promoting safe behaviour at level crossings with the aim to lower numbers of accidents and fatalities. Even with all investments into rail traffic safety, each participant must accept their part of the responsibility - stop, look up and be careful because the train is always faster.”
Message by Danijela Barić, Head of Chair for Road Transport Technology, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb
“I am proud that the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences together with the UIC and HŽ Infrastruktura are hosting this year’s International Level Crossing Awareness Day, especially as this year is 10th anniversary of ILCAD conference.
Safety at Level Crossings (LC) is a shared responsibility of the road and rail sector. Despite technical and technological improvements in Level Crossing infrastructure and safety systems as well as interventions using intelligent transport systems, the number of accidents at LCs remains high, and studies point to LC users’ risky behaviour as the key factor. Even the most advanced protection systems will not suffice if the users do not obey or do not understand traffic rules regarding level crossings. Therefore, investing in transport infrastructure is very important, but investing in education and prevention is of even greater importance. There should be more emphasis on educating users on level crossing dangers, preventive programs and systematic training programs for traffic participants, which aim at changing the patterns of their risky behaviour at LC.
The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences has several research projects regarding safety at LCs. One of the recent projects is “Implementation of measures to increase safety of the most vulnerable road users at level crossings."
Website:
www.fpz.unizg.hr/projekt-sigurnost-na-zcp/
YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2JORXF8
This project is a part of the national programme of road traffic safety of the Republic of Croatia 2011 – 2020 run by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia. To make the measures recognisable to LC users, each project measure has a name that is also a message: “Safety begins with you”, “Your opinion is important”, “Book Month”, “Travelling exhibition - Safety and design", “Conscientious driver", “Social Networks”, “Media”, “LC-locator”, etc. We have designed and applied new methods of education using modern technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR). We hope that this will contribute to increasing the awareness of the LC users.
Let the spirit of ILCAD be in our minds not only for one day in a year, on ILCAD day, but every day. Only then will we achieve the desired “Vision Zero”."
The conference was moderated by Danijela Barić, Head of Chair for Road Transport Technology, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences and opened with a short video.
Then participants had the opportunity to watch a safety message from Jean Todt, FIA President (International Automobile Federation – FIA) and UN SG’S Special Envoy for Road Safety delivered a special message to support ILCAD:
https://youtu.be/q_Xh0U953tw
According to Jean Todt: “Crashes at level crossings deserve special attention. Although they might account for a limited proportion of road crashes, their severity makes them a key area of intervention. Their primary cause is inappropriate behaviour of road users: bad evaluation of risk, lack of attention, misunderstanding of road signs. This is why your event today is important: railway industry representatives, road authorities, academics and experts from around the world need to raise awareness about the dangers surrounding level crossings.
The outcome of your work will help countries create an effective framework for the management of safety at level crossings. To this end, let me express two topics for your consideration. Firstly, we need a joint vision of what technological innovation, which minimises human error and violations, may look like. Secondly, railway and road managers need to work together at a national level to develop targeted level crossing safety campaigns and education programmes. This would create a preventive mechanism that will improve safety in the long term."
Video message by Mr Jean Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General
“The rail community that I represent as the UIC Director General is proud once again, year after year, to be consistently the driving force behind the creation of this International campaign on Level Crossings, ILCAD.
Thanks to its network of experts and its spirit of cooperation and solidarity, UIC’s mission is to be also concretely at the service of lives, across the world.
Human factors are the main cause of road collisions (including at level crossings). This year, the theme of the awareness campaign is targeting the young users.
Whether pedestrians or cyclists, using their smartphones, GPS, headphones, etc. They must be aware of the risks at level crossings.
Their attention and responsibility for themselves and their friends is fundamental to save so many lives. The message of the ILCAD campaign this year is: “Don’t beat the train!” And it is addressed to everyone, even though special attention is therefore focused on young people this year."
To see the video of Jean-Pierre Loubinoux please click here:
https://youtu.be/HspUlu5L2QY
Message by Nikolina Brnjac, State Secretary, Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Croatia
“We are thrilled that this year’s International Level Crossing Awareness Day is being hosted in Zagreb, Croatia, despite numerous other interested countries on the waiting list. This is a great honour not only to the Faculty of Traffic and Transport Sciences and HŽ Infrastruktura as co-organisers, but also to the Republic of Croatia as a whole.
Rail traffic safety is one of key priorities and a competitive benefit of all railway companies. The Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and HŽ Infrastruktura d. o. o. as its national railway infrastructure management company invests in rail traffic safety in different ways, from investing in technical and technological solutions, through continuous training of their staff to prevention campaigns, including in particular printing brochures intended for users of rail transport services and other stakeholders.
Our national railway infrastructure manager is responsible for securing 1511 railway crossings, out of which most installations have been functioning for more than 40 years. With the primary intention of improving safety level of road-rail and pedestrian crossings, the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure took a decision on 3 May 2018 on the adoption of the rail-road and pedestrian crossing securing plan for the period 2018-2022, the implementation of which will contribute to considerably improving rail and road safety levels in the Republic of Croatia.
The solution to the safety problem at rail-road and pedestrian crossings is also covered by the Strategy of Traffic Sector Development in the Republic of Croatia in the period 2017-2030 as one of the measures for promotion of rail and road safety. To implement the measures covered by the Plan and the Strategy, the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure throughout HŽ Infrastruktura d. o. o. is planning to launch an investment cycle aimed at improving road and rail safety by investing 250 million kn in the period 2018-2022 into securing road-rail crossings. Besides, financing for 50 road-rail crossings is provided from the World Bank loans, for 114 crossings from state-guaranteed credit facilities. There are also plans to apply for financing of 100 more crossings from EU funds through the Operational Competition and Cohesion Programme.
Last but not least, the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure with continue their efforts on upgrading the largest possible number of road-rail crossings, to improve safety of all traffic participants.
In conclusion, current international practice has shown that the most efficient way of changing the conduct and reducing the number of accidents at road-rail crossings is training of traffic participants with emphasis on risks and potential consequences of ignoring basic traffic rules. We are therefore pleased that all stakeholders have recognised importance of this event and we hope that this year’s International Level Crossing Awareness Day will achieve its stated objectives and thus produce expected results.”
