An unattended toddler almost wanders onto the tracks before being pulled back by his mother at the last moment.
A man jumps a crossing barrier and is inches away from being hit by a speeding train.
A pedestrian, looking the wrong way, steps in front of a tram and narrowly escapes injury.
These are just some of the scenarios in the Real Life Doesn't Rewind campaign, released to mark Rail Safety Week 2024.
The confronting footage of real-life close calls between pedestrians and trains and trams on Adelaide’s network has been released in a bid to reduce the number of near misses on South Australian railways.
The videos began playing this week across the Adelaide Metro rail network, on social media, television and through geotargeted messaging.
Posters with a QR code that take people to the videos have also been installed at various railway stations.
So far this year there have been 123 near misses reported across Adelaide Metro’s train network, compared to 132 at the same time last year. There have also been 50 near misses recorded across Adelaide’s tram network so far in 2024.
In one incident captured on 19 January 2024, a man jumped over an activated pedestrian gate at Broadmeadows and attempted to cross the tracks seconds before a train travelled past.
While this incident did not result in tragedy this is just one shocking example of the dangerous behaviour captured across the state’s busy railways. Between 2019 and 2023 there were 582 near misses and 34 collisions recorded, sadly resulting in 11 lives lost.
Near misses and collisions with pedestrians and vehicles have long-lasting impacts, not only for those injured or killed and their families, but for the train drivers and their families, emergency service workers and the wider community.
Across South Australia there are 471 pedestrian crossings and 555 level crossings, highlighting the need for everyone to exercise caution and to pay attention to the signs and signals in place.
A typical passenger train weighs around 140 tonnes and can travel at speeds of up to 110km/h. If an emergency brake is activated a train at full speed needs 470m of track to be able to stop safely. Freight trains, which can weigh up to 10,000 tonnes, need more than 1km of track to stop.
As part of a broader campaign for national Rail Safety Week, which runs from August 5-11, regional South Australians are being told to Expect the Unexpected, a reminder that trains in regional areas can be operating at any time, day or night.
