A Lesson in Rail Safety for Teens and All of Us

Last week, New Jersey transportation officials announced a new initiative to prevent accidental deaths at the state’s rail crossings. While NJ TRANSIT has actively employed the three “E’s” (engineering, education and enforcement) to address pedestrian and motorist safety for many years, this renewed focus was sparked by several incidents where three teens were killed and another injured last October at rail crossings in Wayne and Garfield.

The short-term action plan unveiled last week includes a number of sound provisions, including installing additional warning signs and gate skirts that discourage pedestrians from ducking under gates when a train is coming, to expanding the cadre of speakers trained to educate school-age children and teens about rail safety. There’s also a plan to enhance and expand the language in the state drivers manual that discusses pedestrian and vehicle safety at rail crossings and along rail lines.

I would argue, however, that safety education must start and continuously be reinforced at home. In addition to teaching our children how to cross the street and ride a bike safely, we also need to discuss walking and driving around trains and buses. New Jersey is, after all, the home of the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system—it provides more than 895,000 weekday trips on 240 bus routes, and operates three light rail lines and 11 commuter rail lines with over 312 crossings. Meanwhile, the transit system, the nation’s third largest, includes 164 rail stations, 60 light rail stations, and more than 18,000 bus stops.

Even if you don’t have railroad tracks or a rail crossing in or near your neighbor, there’s a good chance your child is going to encounter one either on foot or once he’s behind the wheel. Making sure he knows what to do is essential, particularly when you consider that every three hours a person or vehicle is hit by a train. Here are several key rail safety reminders courtesy of Operation Lifesaver and NJ TRANSIT’s award-winning driver education rail safety program (the curriculum has been provided free of charge to all of the state’s public, private and parochial high schools):

• Always cross train tracks at a designated crossing, look both ways, and cross the tracks quickly and without stopping. It isn’t safe to stop closer than 15 feet from a rail.
• Never stop on the tracks. If the gates begin to lower, continue crossing so your vehicle completely clears the tracks.
• Never go around lowered crossing gates—it’s illegal and deadly. They indicate a train is approaching.
• Before you start to drive a vehicle over a rail crossing, be certain you have enough room on the opposite side to completely cross the tracks. 
• If you vehicle stalls on the tracks and a train is coming, get out immediately and move away from the tracks. Don’t run in the same direction the train is traveling; if the train hits your car you could be injured by flying debris.

I urge you to spend a few moments reviewing this information with your novice driver and your younger children who may ride with an older sibling or other teen.  Ensure that they also understand the physics associated with motor vehicles and trains. A train can weigh between 40 and 90 tons so the ratio between an average freight train (about 8,000 tons) and a car is about 4,000 to one. Those aren’t good
odds for a teen driver.

Teens (and all of us) also need to understand that trains can’t stop on a dime. A freight train traveling at 55 miles per hour can take a mile or more to stop once the emergency brakes are applied. That’s equivalent to 18 football fields. When the lights at a crossing are activated, trains generally arrive within 20 seconds. But because we can’t accurately judge the speed of a moving train, it’s not uncommon to see motorists and pedestrians take a chance (a potential deadly chance) and “scoot” across the tracks. Trains are required to be equipped with ditch lights which help to create a triangle effect. Our eyes can pick out these three points of light in the dark and help us better gauge the speed of a moving train, but erring on the side of caution and always stopping at a rail crossing is critical.

As every high school students who takes physics learns, for every action there is a reaction. Ignore the gates and flashing lights as well as the bell and horn or whistle that every train is equipped with (engineers blow the horn or whistle four times before intersections with roadways to alert drivers and pedestrians that a train is approaching) and the outcome could be deadly.  (There are “quiet zones” in some residential areas, where normally the train horn won’t sound unless it’s an emergency or there are workers on the tracks.  Be on the lookout for “NO TRAIN HORN” signs!)  Perhaps a NJ TRANSIT commuter train operator put it best when he said, “how do you get someone to understand that the one second you take to stop when the gates come down could save your life?”

It’s also important to note that not all rail crossings are equipped with warning devices such as gates and lights. Some low volume crossings only have a railroad crossing sign at the tracks. Referred to as a crossbuck, these black and white signs have the word “RAIL ROAD” printed on one arm of the “X”, while “CROSSING” appears on the other. Crossbuck signs also indicate if there is more than one track at a crossing. Knowing there are multiple tracks is important because you want to make sure the train you see isn’t hiding another one you don’t see.  Motorists should always treat a crossbuck like a yield sign, which means that if a train is approaching, all vehicles must surrender the right of way and let the train pass.

Whether a rail crossing is equipped with warning lights and/or bells or just a crossbuck, rail safety experts urge motorists and pedestrians to always exercise caution as well as patience when driving and/or walking around them.  If the lights don’t stop flashing or the gate doesn’t go up as soon as a train passes, don’t assume there’s a problem with the equipment. Rather sit tight because there’s
a good bet another train is approaching.