In this scenario, once you’ve confirmed that no train is approaching, are you permitted to drive around the lowered half-barrier and cross the railway tracks?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
NO
Explanation
In the photo the half-barriers are down and the red lights on the signal are flashing. Driving around lowered half-barriers is strictly prohibited, even if, after checking, it seems to you that no train is coming. A half-barrier closes only half of the roadway precisely so that a car trapped on the level crossing can drive out - not so that it can be driven around.
The Road Traffic Act prohibits driving around lowered barriers or half-barriers and entering a level crossing if they have started to come down or have not finished going up, and a flashing red signal means no entry beyond the signal. A train travelling at 100 km/h covers 28 m per second and needs several hundred metres to brake - your own judgement that "no train can be seen" is worthless. Driving around barriers is punished with a high fine and 15 penalty points, and above all it risks death.
Legal basis: Art. 28 para. 3 point 1 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); § 98 para. 5 of the Regulation on road signs and signals