CHILDREN mess around on railway tracks for the obvious reasons. "Nothing else to do"; "my friend wanted me to do it"; "it was exciting": these are the most popular excuses given by young railway trespassers.

They have little concept of how much danger they are in. When a driver of a train going at speed spots a figure on the line, all he can do is slam on the brakes and hope. A train cannot swerve. It takes hundreds of yards to stop. By the time someone on the tracks has heard it, they have only seconds to react.

Trains aside, there are other dangers of trespassing on railway lines, such as high voltage electricity and steep embankments.

As British transport policeman Kevin Andrews says today: "Railway lines are not a playground." They are a death trap.

But some children, usually boys, looking for something to do in the long summer holidays, will gravitate towards the railway tracks near their homes. The discovery of two teenagers on the high speed track near Skelton railway bridge is sadly not an isolated occurrence.

The message of this week's safety campaign is that we can all help to reduce the casualties. For its part, the rail industry has mounted an education campaign, targeting every school in North Yorkshire.

That message should be reinforced by parents. Meanwhile, we adults should get our own house in order: a 2001 study concluded that there were 17 million acts of criminal trespass on the railway committed annually by adults, compared to ten million by children. Those shortcuts across the track are a danger to the grown-ups who undertake them - and a terrible example to our children.

Saving lives is the first priority of the campaign to cut rail trespass. But there is another benefit for passengers: a reduction in the 486 days-worth of delays this crime causes every year on the railways.

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, June 18, 2003