Upon passage of the rail vehicle, half of the barrier is lifted. Are you allowed in this situation to start driving on to the rail tracks?

In the photo you have stopped in front of a level crossing over an electrified line; the train has already passed, the half-barriers on both sides are rising and are halfway to the vertical position, and the traffic lights on the right are still showing a flashing red signal; a lorry, a passenger car and a cyclist are coming from the opposite direction. You are not allowed to move off and enter the tracks until the raising of the half-barriers has been completed and the red light has gone out. The answer is: no.

The Road Traffic Act prohibits the driver from entering the crossing if the lowering of the barriers or half-barriers has started or their raising has not been completed, and the Regulation on road signs and signals states that a flashing red signal means no entry beyond the traffic lights. The rising arms are tempting, because the train has gone, but while the red light is flashing, the warning cycle is not over - the signal goes out only after the half-barriers are fully raised, and if another train were approaching, the arms would come down again, this time right onto your car standing on the tracks. You wait calmly until the half-barriers are vertical and the signal has gone out, look both ways along the tracks, and only then do you move off, having made sure that there is room for your car beyond the crossing.

Legal basis: Art. 28 para. 3 point 1 and 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); § 98 para. 5 of the Regulation on road signs and signals