In its bid to check menace of jaywalkers, the Railways will soon launch a crackdown on people walking across level-crossings or railway tracks with their ears stuffed with earphones. An awareness campaign for the same is also in the offing.
Drivers and pedestrians, found occupied by music and entertainment at level crossings, may land in jail for six months, besides coughing a hefty penalty on charges of “negligence of safety”. A senior Railway officer said that the task will be given to the Railway Protection Force
(RPF), who will either be in uniforms or civil dresses to catch mobile users plugged with earphones while driving or walking across railway tracks. According to medicos, the use of earphones makes the driver or the pedestrian, oblivious to the approaching traffic, and reduces their reaction time to respond to any emergency situation.
The number of fatal mishaps due to earphone use on roads has led the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) Trauma Centre to conduct a study on it. “The RPF men will have the power to arrest those found using earphones while crossing the tracks and put them in jail for six months for negligence of safety with a minimum fine of Rs1,000. Those crossing or trespassing the railway lines elsewhere will be arrested too,” said the official.
In its awareness campaign, the Railways would inform the general public that crossing the railway line or level-crossing is an act of negligence and thus a punishable offence. The offender will be prosecuted under Section 147 of the Railways Act. The Ministry had also launched an advertisement campaign on FM radio channels to educate commuters about the risks involved in listening to music while crossing an unmanned level-crossing.
Mishaps at level crossings and trespassing of railway tracks are the biggest killer, accounting for 40 per cent of train accidents and 66 per cent of fatalities. While the Indian Railways is yet to compile a figure on death and accidents related to the use of earphones, but as per an estimate, the casualty is around 4-5 per cent. There are about 31,000 level crossings, of which around 12,000 are unmanned.
In a preemptive measure, the Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu has also asked the authorities to make use of geo-spatial technology for the crossings in which according to the devised mechanism, an alert SMS will be delivered on all the mobile phones in the locality where the train is due to pass/cross.
On an experimental basis, the Northern Railway has already launched the crackdown that will be operation during the period January 20 to February 8 and arrested 155 persons. However, the railways released them with a warning. “They were left just because of lack of awareness. But now onwards punitive action will be taken against the defaulters,” said a Northern Railway official.
Even the roads users using mobile phones while driving are penalised since the very act is tantamount to negligence which often leads to accidents. There have been instances when the driver of a vehicle was hooked to music through earphones endangering lives of others. In majority of the case, passengers crossing tracks are in a rush or trespassers become a victim of such accidents.