Rail chiefs have launched a hard-hitting TV and radio advertising campaign warning of the dangers of level crossing misuse.
Campaign organisers Network Rail (NR) said hundreds of drivers were dicing with death by ignoring warning signs and lights or weaving round barriers at level crossings.
NR said there had been 13 collisions between road vehicles and trains this year and that Britain was on course for a four-year high total of level crossing incidents unless motorists stopped running the risk.
The adverts show in graphic detail the tragic consequences of misusing level crossings by both motorists and pedestrians.
Between January and September this year there were 2,636 incidents of misuse at Britain's level crossings. But NR said these were only the ones recorded, with the true figure much higher.
There were nearly 900 incidents involving a vehicle, with 128 categorised as a "near miss", where a collision with a train and serious injury or even death was narrowly avoided. Pedestrians, too, were running the risk at level crossings, with over 200 near misses this year.
NR chief executive Iain Coucher said: "Level crossings are safe, but tragically it is unsafe driver behaviour that causes accidents and deaths.
"Every week three motorists risk their lives and those of others by abusing level crossings. We have a simple message to all - don't run the risk."
