Metra Official: 'We Need To Talk About' Fatalities

It's not even two months into 2017, and already eight people have been killed along Metra tracks in Illinois.

This week, Metra officials discussed the alarming trend, pledging to take steps to reduce the number of fatalities, many of which are pedestrian vs. train suicides.

"It has reached the stage where we need to talk about it," Metra Chairman Norm Carlson told the Daily Herald. Officials said they want to work with Illinois counties to discuss possible interventions, from posters, videos and more police enforcement along train tracks to engineering solutions like gates.

So far in 2017, four crashes -- two fatal -- have involved drivers going around railroad crossing gates, according to the Daily Herald.

Six other fatal incidents involved pedestrians. On Friday, a pedestrian was hit along the BNSF line near Cicero. On Jan. 26, a 25-year-old Crystal Lake man died when he reportedly walked in front of a train, and the death of a woman struck near Midlothian in early January was ruled a suicide.

Many of the deaths are apparent suicides, in which the victim steps in front of the approaching train. Of the 25 pedestrian fatalities in 2015, 19 were believed or suspected to be suicides, the Daily Herald Reported. Last year, 20 out of 30 fatalities were apparent suicides.

Last spring, Metra officials appealed to the public to help prevent pedestrian vs. train suicides by reporting or intervening if you notice someone behaving erratically near train tracks.

"If you see someone's doing something odd, hanging around after multiple trains have gone by, you can at least pose the question," Metra CEO Don Orseno told the Chicago Tribune.