“As we have previously announced, this is not a repressive but a preventive step, to which we are led by the still high number of very undisciplined drivers who behave in a risky way at the railway crossings.” “The fact that this is not a hidden bullying of the drivers is also evidenced by the fact that the list of railway crossings at which these devices will be in operation is publicly available,” said the head of the railway administration organisation SŽDC Jiří Svoboda.
Until now, footage from the existing cameras on railway crossings has not allowed to give direct fines for unlawful conduct of drivers. This is going to change now. The system, whose pilot program was launched in Úvaly u Prahy more than two years ago, can not only record what is happening at the crossings, but its outputs will make it possible to fine unruly drivers. Based on an agreement and cooperation with the respective municipality, the camera systems can be supplemented with radars which will record cases when the maximum speed limit of the passing road vehicles is exceeded during the idle mode of the crossing.
The described technology will be deployed at 14 crossings, mainly on the railway corridor between Pardubice and Ostrava, as well as on selected regional lines, e.g. Žďárec u Skutče – Svitavy. The system will start operating at the first crossing in Uhersko after 18 May this year. The cameras at the remaining crossing listed in the table will be activated in the second half of July. The total cost of retrofitting these 14 crossings with supervision equipment, including software, exceeded five million crowns.
With respect to the project preparation, zoning proceedings and actual implementation, the second stage of the installation of these intelligent cameras, in which another 16 crossings throughout the Czech Republic will be fitted with completely new equipment, will take place by the end of next year.
A driver who enters a railway crossing in cases where this is prohibited by law commits an offence. According to the law, he/she faces a fine of up to 5,000 crowns, a ban on driving motor vehicles for up to 6 months, and 7 points will be added to his/her account in the points system.
List of railway crossings intended for the implementation of the camera system order:
| poř. č. |
č. přejezdu |
železniční km |
traťový úsek |
lokalita |
| 1 |
P4897 |
286,369 |
železniční stanice Uhersko |
Uhersko |
| 2 |
P6847 |
6,64 |
Svitavy – Květná |
Vendolí |
| 3 |
P6865 |
21,323 |
Polička – Borová |
Kamenec u Poličky |
| 4 |
P6890 |
28,109 |
železniční stanice Borová u Poličky |
Borová |
| 5 |
P6896 |
30,38 |
Borová – Čachnov |
Borová |
| 6 |
P6913 |
39,521 |
Čachnov – Skuteč |
Krouna |
| 7 |
P8290 |
328,679 |
Louky nad Olší – Karviná hl. n. |
Karviná |
| 8 |
P6511 |
280,264 |
Bohumín – Dětmarovice |
Dolní Lutyně |
| 9 |
P6501 |
245,044 |
železniční stanice Studénka |
Studénka |
| 10 |
P6506 |
252,244 |
Studénka – Jistebník |
Jistebník |
| 11 |
P6508 |
256,861 |
Jistebník – Polanka nad Odrou |
Ostrava |
| 12 |
P7868 |
25,272 |
Opava východ – Kravaře ve Slezsku |
Velké Hoštice |
| 13 |
P8280 |
307,712 |
Bystřice nad Olší – Třinec |
Vendryně |
| 14 |
P6496 |
231,244 |
Polom – Suchdol nad Odrou |
Mankovice |