Police this week are having a blitz on drivers who ignore stop signs or flashing lights at railway crossings on district roads.
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It's a timely reminder to drivers that level crossings should not be approached with complacency because there's been two deaths in the region in the past year and other accidents where trains have hit vehicles.
In fact someone is killed every 10 days on the national rail network and every year there's 1000 near misses.
A State Government road safety campaign on TV has highlighted railway crossings and the pearly gates with the punch line 'Don't cross to the other side'.
The Woodward Road rail crossing in Orange was one of the sites where the pearly gates theme was first set up six years ago and all the traffic big wigs were here for a media picnic.
The gates were taken down after it was over but they probably could have left them there because young hoons love the built-up rail crossing and the rubber tyre marks on the road show they're still using it as a launch pad.
They race along Woodward Road and over the crossing flat out so their cars leave the ground and fly for a few metres, which is dangerous.
One day one of them will end up 'crossing to the other side' where it's said an angel stands guard at the pearly gates and where your name must be written in the book of life while everyone else stays outside.
A hoon leaping the crossing in a car could earn a short cut to meet the angel if there's a train coming because if a car is approaching or on the crossing the train driver can see it but has no chance of stopping in time.
In high traffic areas, short-stacking occurs when drivers misjudge the space they need to fully clear the crossing.
Is an e-scooter a thing on the future?
We could get rid of more than 600 single occupant cars parked in streets around the central business district every day by convincing people to ride an electric scooter to work rather than drive.
But can you imagine it?
Hundreds of scooters weaving in and out of our aggressive drivers every morning and then again at knock-off time in the afternoon.
It might get rid of some cars but instead could create traffic chaos.
But e-scooters could be a thing of the future with the State Government looking at a trial in Sydney and eight councils have already put up their hands to take part including the City of Sydney, Inner West, Waverley, Randwick, Northern Beaches and Bayside councils.
The scooters would be restricted to people older than 18 who have a driver's licence, could only be ridden during the day and riders would have to wear helmets.
Did you know?
E-scooters can't legally be used on streets in NSW but are allowed in Queensland and South Australia where they're restricted to footpaths.
They're also used overseas in cities including Berlin, Paris and Los Angeles.
Swiss Federal Railways has just introduced a new option for its passengers.
After getting off the train they can continue their trip on an e-scooter as a railway pilot project to provide door-to-door mobility for passengers.
How about that? And we can't even get a station-to-station train in Orange.
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