Train safety is a bigger issue than you might think. Did you know that about every three hours in the United States, someone is hit by a train? What a startling statistic!
The good news is that railroad companies such as Norfolk Southern are trying to shrink startling statistics like these. They’ve implemented a public safety campaign, titled “Train Your Brain,” to train the general public to be smart at railroad crossings. They even have a quippy mascot: a large, pink brain named Brainy (see photo below) and billboards meant to warn against racing a train
What I’ve found to be most interesting are the facts and tips below:
- Trains have the right of way 100% of the time over emergency vehicles, cars, the police and pedestrians.
- Some 400 people are injured and 500 killed annually while trespassing on railroad tracks. Walking or playing on railroad tracks, bridges, yards and equipment is illegal – trespassers can be arrested and fined. The ONLY legal, safe place to cross the track is at designated pedestrian or roadway crossings.
- Never walk down a train track. It can take a train a full mile or more to brake – even after it has hit something – that’s nearly 18 football fields to stop. By the time a locomotive engineer can see a trespasser or a vehicle on the tracks, it’s too late to avoid a collision.
- You are 20 times more likely to die in a collision with a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle. In fact, more people die in highway-rail grade crossing crashes in the U.S. each year than in all commercial and general aviation crashes combined.
- Do not cross the tracks immediately after a train passes. A second train might be blocked by the first. Trains can come from either direction. Wait until you can see clearly around the first train in both directions.
- Do not hunt, fish or bungee jump from railroad trestles. There is only enough clearance on the tracks for a train to pass. Trestles are not meant to be sidewalks or pedestrian bridges!
If you live in the Carolinas, check Brainy’s event schedule at www.brainysworld.com. He might be coming to a local event near you! You can also learn more information about Brainy and the Train Your Brain campaign, and even take the Train Safety Quiz, at www.facebook.com/brainysworld.
