Seven accidents have been recorded this cutting season, with two near misses caught on camera
An alarming trend of distracted driving near railways crossings in Far North Queensland has emerged, recent data has revealed. Watch the video here.
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An alarming trend of distracted driving near railways crossings in Far North Queensland has emerged, recent data has revealed.
Queensland sugar cane company Mackay Sugar Limited (MSF) reported seven crashes between vehicles and cane trains this year and is urging drivers to remain vigilant as the season winds down.
It comes after video showed a B-double truck narrowly avoided a collision with a cane train.
Head of cane supply, Mark Magnanini, said people were not paying attention on our roads.
“We want to ensure that everyone is safe and understands the risks,” he said.
As part of its investigations into each crash, MSF found all motorist failed to adhere to the warning signals being signage, active flashing lights and sounding horns.
“Fortunately there were only minor injuries from these accidents, but our goal is to have zero accidents during the cane cutting season,” Mr Magnanini said.
This follows a second shocking video, which shows a car driving head on towards the direction of a train, and a separate vehicle overtaking the same locomotive in Innisfail.
Mr Magnanini said while MSF had several community awareness and safety campaigns, road users must also do their part by adhering to the rules.
“Preventing incidents is our top priority, we take it very seriously,” he said.
“However, it’s a very intense operation that we run, it’s very sophisticated.
“We need the communities co-operation, it’s essential to prevent accidents and ensure a safe environment for all road users and railway operations.”
Mr Magnanini said collisions could also disrupt operations, potentially impacting the jobs of up to 200 workers at the sugar mills.
“These disruptions can result in significant economic losses, especially during the peak cane crushing season,” he said.
“When you’re crushing cane at 500 tonnes an hour, very quickly you run out of stored cane and the cane that is being harvested on the other side of that railway incident can’t continue.”
With trains operating around-the-clock Mr Magnanini said his biggest fear was receiving a phone calls at 2am about the next big collision.
“I pray for the next four weeks to go by quickly,” he said.
“While our drivers are protected by the controls in place, flashing lights, signalling horns, they are also in control of heavy vehicles that can’t just stop.”
Mr Magnanini said the cane railway network was essential for transporting sugar cane to local factories.
“The cane railway network and all its associated assets are vital to our region for the delivery of sugarcane to our factories and we applaud the community for being patient and vigilant during our 25 week crushing season,” he said.
“MSF Sugar has no higher priority than safety.”
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Originally published as Seven accidents have been recorded this cutting season, with two near misses caught on camera
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