In my family growing up my father was a railroad engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad. He was safety first by nature and was always reminding me of safety issues around railroad crossings. Evidently, the woman driving the SUV in New York had not had those lessons drummed into her.
Before covering car safety issues, it is an unfortunate coincidence that I recently pointed out the wisdom of not sitting in the first car when riding in a train, see Mental Rehearsal Is Key to Survival. I never imagined an exclamation point so soon after sharing this tip.
Here are some other tips to keep you safe around trains:
- Don't encroach on a railroad crossing. If the lights are flashing stop well back of the tracks themselves. All manner of freight might come lose from a railroad car and be sticking out. Back when there were more box cars in trains, my dad would say doors could come off and be sticking out from what is the normal train track right away.
- Don't trust the signals. They are mechanical and everything mechanical can fail. This is true especially in extremely cold weather. This is why tanker trucks and buses always stop before a railroad crossing, the driver opens the door (on a bus anyway) and listens for the train whistle (more of a horn these days).
- Never try to drive around a crossing gate that is down. Even if you can't see or hear a train coming.
- Note how many train tracks are present (they are marked on the railroad crossing sign). One train may be passing and there could be another train coming from the other direction.
- Remember you have to avoid the train. There is no way a speeding train will be able to stop to avoid a collision with your vehicle. The engineer can throw the air that locks up all the brakes on the train, but a freight train at speed could take well over a mile to stop. Train engineers are not drivers, they are operators. They can't steer the train, they can only start and stop it.
- Never enter or cross over a railroad track(s) unless you can drive clear of the other side. In the instance of the above accident I'm guessing the traffic was inching along, the driver followed too closely and then the crossing arms came down on the car while she was astride the tracks. In subsequent stories about the crash she evidently got out of the car to look for potential damage to her car, got back in and then moved forward into the path of the train that was trying to stop.
- The crossing gates are not barriers. If somehow you did get trapped you can drive through them. The resulting damages to your car and the gates will be nothing like what might happen in a car-train collision.
- Don't walk down railroad tracks. Many a person, especially kids, are killed doing so.
