Press Statement dated 27 April 2018
The United National Transport Union (UNTU) is deeply distressed and saddened by the loss of seven people that were killed after a train collided with a bakkie at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath in Cape Town this morning.
“It is horrific that innocent lives of workers are lost because the driver did not take caution at the level crossing. UNTU cannot emphisize the importance of looking before crossing a level crossing enough and have warned motorist about the dangers thereof repeatedly in the pass,” says Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU.
This is the same railway crossing where ten children lost their lives when a train crashed into a taxi in 2010.
On 4 January 2018 a passenger train collided with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad in the Free State, killing 21 people and injuring 254 people.
“Depending on the speed, a train will only come to a complete standstill when it applies its emergency break procedure in between 500 m and 1 km. There is nothing a train driver can do to prevent a coalition if a motorist does not take caution,” says Harris.
Surely in the highly developed world we live in today, there must be some automated system, that can control the level crossings to try and minimize the deaths we are experience.
We call on Law enforcement to apply the most stringent punishment to vehicle drivers if found to be the cause of the accident.
Issued on behalf of United National Transport Union (UNTU) by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer