Safety at Railroad Crossings

Nearly every 115 minutes someone in America is hit by a train. Last year alone, there were more than 3,400 collisions, in which nearly 400 people were killed and 1,360 people were injured. The Federal Railroad Administration has made the reduction of rail-related accidents their number one goal.

Highway-rail crossing deaths are almost completely avoidable, that is what makes them so tragic. Most of them occur simply because motorists choose to ignore warnings signs, signals, or safety gates. Over 50 percent of crashes at public crossings occur where active warning devices like gates, lights, and bells exist and function properly. Many people believe that they will be able to hear the oncoming train, or it will be able to stop in time. In truth, a train traveling at 50 mph will take a mile and a half to come to a complete stop.

A motorist is 30 times more likely to die in an accident involving a train, than in a collision with another motor vehicle, and most of these accidents will occur within 25 miles of the motorist's home.

According to Gary Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board states that the safety of grade crossings is ultimately the responsibility of the state. The federal government calculates the average cost of adding lights and gates to a crossing at $150,000 or about $14 billion to upgrade the 96,759 passive crossings on public roads in the U.S., as of 1995. In order to eliminate fatalities, the NTSB feels that the construction of bridges or overpasses, at a cost of $3 million per crossing, would be required.

The FRA holds a slightly different opinion. It is their hope that education will reduce these tragic and avoidable incidents. With their campaign enforcing the statement, "Always expect a train," they hope to increase the awareness of the dangers present at highway-rail crossings, thereby reducing the incidence of accidents and fatalities.