Two cars were smashed by trains on level crossings within a few hours in Sussex yesterday.

In the first accident, the driver had an amazing escape when her car was split in two on the Arun Valley line at Barns Green near Horsham.

The second driver was not so fortunate, dying in the crash on the West Coastway line at Fishbourne near Chichester.

These accidents follow a series of other crashes in which cars have been hit by trains. They have given real cause for concern.

It is by the grace of God the train drivers and passengers were not injured in yesterday's crashes.

But they caused shock to the drivers, damage to the trains and enormous disruption to passengers.

Ideally there should be no level crossings at all on the railways, making crashes between trains and cars a rarity.

But this would be hugely expensive to achieve at a time when the railways are already cutting costs.

Every effort is being made to make level crossings as safe as possible and it is too early to say what the causes of yesterday's accidents were.

But in most cases these collisions occur when cars stop on the crossings and cannot start again.

In cold weather, where there is ice about, these terrifying stories are a reminder that we all need to be much more cautious.