Safety at user-operated level crossings is being compromised by ‘confusing’ signs, the Department for Transport (DfT) has been told.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has urged the DfT to review the requirements for signs prescribed for use at user-worked crossings – mostly on private roads, but also on 162 public highways and incorporating 590 public footways – to improve safety.

The RAIB warned that ‘none of the prescribed signs actually inform the user that they are approaching a railway crossing, and signs are sometimes located some distance from the track’.

The signs’ main message is ‘stop – look – listen’ and relies entirely on written text rather than pictograms, the RAIB noted as part of an investigation into the risk associated with the crossings following 171 incidents at the crossings between 2006 and 2008.

The RAIB noted that the agriculture industry has been making greater use of migrant workers and agricultural contractors that may be unfamiliar with the crossings.

It also recommended that Network Rail carry out assessments of alternative methods of providing protection at the crossings in order to inform its policy on upgrading user-worked crossings.

Investigation into safety at user-worked crossings.