"Whenever something happens that shouldn't, the people that should see it are never there."
Monday was "quite a good run" compared to the usual trip, said Mr Rumbal, with only three or four cars running over the tracks while the train was in sight.
"It varies so much. You might do a three hour journey and you may have four cars go over against the alarms, then you get two weeks and see nothing go wrong. It's just random."
Mr Rumbal, who has been in the business of train-driving for nearly 45 years, has been "lucky" in that he's hit only one car.
John Rumbal Photo/Bevan Conley
"That person was a little bit stunned, but they basically weren't injured.
"It was an uncontrolled crossing with a stop sign. They stopped at the crossing but hadn't looked properly. They just drove out and all of a sudden realised we were coming - all this time we were continuously on the horn.
"We hit the front right wheel arch and spun them around."
Trains hitting cars tended to have "quite a violent impact", he said.
He often saw cars driving around barriers while they were down.
"Unfortunately, most people today want to get to where they're going. They're impatient, they can't wait, they're always in a hurry.
"They'll happily sit at traffic lights and intersections, but when it comes to rail most people will get across if they can."
The worst crossing in Wanganui was probably the uncontrolled crossing along Heads Rd, he said. During Monday's run three cars crossed while the train approached, one at a distance of about 30-50m from the train.
Pedestrians were also an issue, he said, especially those with earphones in.
"Ten-foot-tall bulletproof young people just sort of want to walk across when the train's quite close," he said.
"I had a close call in Feilding - he didn't even see me coming."
While Monday's run hadn't shown any outright dangerous behaviour, Mr Rumbal said it was "outside how the traffic should behave".
"It would be nice to have all the traffic behaving in a safer manner, but you know what human nature's like. How do you change people's behaviour?"
Sergeant Diane Limbrey said it was important for police to focus on rail safety as well as road safety, as there were "just as many tragedies there".
Rail operator John Winterburn said the worst part was having close calls with drivers who had children in the car.
TrackSAFE NZ foundation manager Megan Drayton said a national survey of train drivers last month showed Wanganui drivers thought the Heads Rd, Beach Rd and Prince St crossing was "particularly problematic" for motorist behaviour.
"They said that near misses happen almost every day on that section of line," Ms Drayton said.
"If a train is visible to the motorist, then they should stop and allow the train to pass before crossing over the crossing," she said.
"Even if they think they can get across in time, chances are the train will be travelling faster than it looks.
"Driving in front of approaching trains also can be traumatic to train drivers, who know that they cannot swerve to miss objects on the track and they cannot stop in a hurry."
Another issue was drivers getting trapped on the cross-hatched markings around rails, she said.
"They should always look ahead and ensure there is enough space for their vehicle on the other side of the crossing before they driving across."
