California Train-Related Injuries and Deaths on the Rise

[vsmith]

Found this on the web today, thought it was an interesting read...

"California Train-Related Injuries and Deaths on the Rise

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The number of people killed or wounded by trains statewide climbed 15 percent over the last three years largely because of population growth, new development and increased rail traffic, experts say.
California led the nation in railroad injuries and deaths in the last decade with a combined total of 1,200. Last year alone, 85 people were killed and 50 wounded. Nationwide these types of accidents are decreasing.

"We've tried for some time to get a handle on this problem," said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.

Many victims were struck by trains while crawling, jumping, thrill-seeking or playing practical jokes on the tracks, according to the FRA. Others got their shoes or feet caught on the tracks while trying to escape the path of oncoming trains.

"We've had instances of adults with headphones jogging along the tracks. We've had people walking their dogs," said David Solow, president of Southern California Metrolink. "It's not a single demographic group."

The increase is partly driven by urban development, experts said. Consumers are purchasing homes near passenger stations to avoid long commutes while transit agencies are building light-rail lines through densely populated neighborhoods.

As a result, railroad traffic is growing. In 2002, trains traveled about 30 million miles in California, up from 21 million miles a decade earlier. Metrolink, meanwhile, runs 142 trains in Southern California each day compared to 26 when the service began in 1992.

"We've got more trains than we've ever had before in the history of the state," said Eric Jacobson, president of Operation Lifesaver, an industry- and government-funded train safety organization. "You've got this huge amount of traffic, and you've got this huge population that's still growing."

Railroads and their affiliated safety organizations are seeking to educate people about the dangers of getting too close to tracks. Jacobson's organization plans to spend $180,000 this year on classes and other information programs in California while Metrolink has budgeted about $500,000"


I highlighted the Jogging incedents because I have cited this in the past and it still happens at least once a year here.[xx(]

[csxns]

Here in NC i saw a SUV pulling a good size boat when the gates went down he wonted to go around the wide load special was moving on.Now days people dont care that is why train related accidents happen.

[mudchicken]

.......and you still have kids playing chicken on the bridge at Arcadia even after two dummies did themselves in.....In California, I'm not at all surprised. And although not stated clearly, most of the fatalities happened to trespassers and pedestrians...(vehicle incidents are dropping)

[Anonymous]

People are just getting real stupid and not paying attention !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[espeefoamer]

Too many people trying to win the Darwin Award![xx(]

[Anonymous]

Amen brother, Amen.[bow][bow][bow]

[edblysard]

Just about added to the body count this morning.

We pulled a receiving track out, 95 cars, to bring around into the yard proper, setting them up to switch.

As usual, when we drag a long cut out, we end up blocking three crossings into a small neighborhood, so, as a courtsey, we drag past the crossing nearest the yard, to allow traffic from the "hood" in and out.

Most of the folks that live there know this, and line up at this one crossing.

As I was lining back the switch, I noticed a man walking beside the cut, about 15 cars back.

Spent a few seconds flagging traffic through the crossing, looked back to make sure the guy was not on the train, trying to cross between cars, didnt see him.

Stepped across to check the other side, trying to make sure he was in the clear.

Didint see him, but there are quite a few bushes, paths and small building on that side.

Waited a few more seconds to make sure, still didnt see him pop out from between cars, he had enough time to climb through, so I then gave my engineer commands to beging shoving, that I had the crossing flagged.

About this time, a car came flying down a side street that runs beside the tracks, lights flashing and honking horn.

Now, I am thinkg that are trying to beat us to the crossing, and are making all that racket trying to get me to stop, so they can cross ahead of us, (there is alway someone who is late for breakfast with the President!)

Was in a good mood, and we hadent moved more than a few feet, when that really bad feeling hit me, and I realized that the guy who was besides the tracks a few seconds ago was an older guy, and wouldnt have crossed the train very quickly.

About the same time as the hair on my neck stood up, the car slides to a stop, with a teenage girl yelling at me in spanish, and pointing back to the spot the guy had been.

I dont speak a lick of spanish, but I understood what she meant anyway.
Great, I just chopped up a old guy....

Told the engineer to get em stopped as quick as he could, and took off running, with the girl a few feet behind me.

Found the guy hanging, literaly, by his shirt, almost choked to death.

He had climbed up on a covered hopper, was crossing on the end platform, got his shirt tail caught on the brake release handle, and slipped when the sudden jerk spun him around.

He fell between the cars, and caught himself with a hand on the end platform of the car he was crossing, and the one ahead of it, with his shirt pulled up over his head and neck, with the shirt tail over the brake wheek ratchet.

When we began to move, he lost his grip on the lead car, and had grabbed the bottom of the brake wheel on the trailing car.

When we stopped, he lost that grip too, and was wound up in his shirt, with it chokeing him.

Between the three of us, we got his shirt off, and moved him away from the cars.
(all of this was translated by the girl, the old guy spoke english as badly as I speak spanish)

Pretty tough old bird, he didnt want me to call for help, just wanted to go back home.

Of course, I couldnt let him go, if he had injured himself, and we didnt try to get him help, we could be held liable for his injuries.

So I called the trainmaster on duty...

After a long discussion, (tainmaster speaks spanish) they decided the old guy needed to go home, and the young girl said she would drive him.

Trainmaster told me later the old guy most likely was a illegal, had been here so long, and didnt want to go anywhere where he might be questioned, and caught....

I though that was a little silly, after all, what if the old guy was hurt?

Legality and liability aside, the right thing to do would be take him to one of the clinics around here, they treat illegals all the time...
Just got a shrug as a answer.
( my bet is the butthead didnt want to deal with all the paperwork)

Point is, a older man who knew better decided to take a risk climbing between cars on a train he just watched moving, knowing full well it would start moving the opposite direction in a few seconds.

By sheer luck, he climbed over the cars, instead of crawling under them, or we would have ground him too pieces.

Lucky for him too that not only did my "radar" kick in, but a passerby noticed him hanging there, and knew what to do, get the train stopped.

During the conversation translated by the young lady, I asked him why he just didnt wait till we had shoved back out of the way?

I knew he knew what we were doing, up close I reconized him, he lives across from the taco stand we eat at, we see him out on the front porch all the time, and he knew how the trains moved, where we went and what we do...

All I got was another shrug, and the young lady saying "he dosnt know, just wanted to get across".

She grilled him more, than told me he really wasnt going anywhere in paticular, just out walking, decided he wanted to be on the other side of the tracks!

She went on chewing him out, she was pretty worked up about it all, and was steady giving this guy a fanny chewing, kinda funny seeing a 18/19 year old dressing down a guy old enough to be her dad, oh man, she was some kinda pissed off.

You dont need spani***o figure out she was giving him a hard time, her tone, and his facial expressions and body language told me he knew he had made a mistake, and had gotten real lucky.

He owes his life to this young lady, count on it.

So people do these stupid things for no other reason than they just want to get to the other side of the tracks...
Go figure!

Ed

[Modelcar]

....Ed, that's quite an alarming story....Congratulations for your alertness and the young lady noticing what was happening and doing something about it....Not everyone would bother to do that now in the time we live in....!

[JoeKoh]

Ed
thanks for being ever watchful.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

Ed, what a story...

It's lucky that lady spotted the guy, who knows how long he could have ended up there....

RE: The article....

It seems that rail accidents aren't really up so to speak, rather they are up PROPORTIONALLY in comparison to rail traffic....

They run more trains in Cali then it's pretty much a give-in that the accidents will be up as well.

That's how I see it anyway.....seems it isn't really as bad as the article makes it out to be.

[Mookie]

Ed: Like you need this kind of excitement in your life!

Mookie[banghead]

[Anonymous]

That first line in the article sounds more like a war zone (Killed or wounded) than a train article. It's bad enough that these things happen but it would have been more appropriate to say killed or injured.

Larry

[dharmon]

As the number of commuter and light rail rail lines in CA increase this number will unfortunately only go up. Californians (at least in the south) seems to walk, jog, well do anything with the same virtual disregard for their surroundings as they do when they drive.

I have mentioned the sleepy branchline near my house before. BNSF runs a local in around 10-11pm and out around 3-4am, 4 to 5 times a week....most likely to avoid traffic. Most folks around here never see the trains. So they have become complacent with regards to the tracks, be it walking along them or stopping on the tracks at lights. The line is being upgraded for light rail to start service in the next couple of years. I can easily see a couple of fatalites in the first few months of service. Unfortunate but likely.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Ed;
It's your alertness and that of your crew that saved a life and not so coincidentally helps win Harriman awards. Hats off to all of you for your alertness and attentiveness to your jobs.

The neighborhood in which I grew up was surrounded by tracks of several roads and my father stressed being careful around the tracks. Grade crossing accidents and trespasser accidents were relatively uncommon, probably because trains were an everyday part of neighborhood life. It's a shame that too many people never learned the safety lessons that I learned in my youth.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by taylorl

That first line in the article sounds more like a war zone (Killed or wounded) than a train article. It's bad enough that these things happen but it would have been more appropriate to say killed or injured.

Larry

Obviously the LA reporters don't write on the Trains.Com forum........

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

As the number of commuter and light rail rail lines in CA increase this number will unfortunately only go up. Californians (at least in the south) seems to walk, jog, well do anything with the same virtual disregard for their surroundings as they do when they drive.

I have mentioned the sleepy branchline near my house before. BNSF runs a local in around 10-11pm and out around 3-4am, 4 to 5 times a week....most likely to avoid traffic. Most folks around here never see the trains. So they have become complacent with regards to the tracks, be it walking along them or stopping on the tracks at lights. The line is being upgraded for light rail to start service in the next couple of years. I can easily see a couple of fatalites in the first few months of service. Unfortunate but likely.

Escondido branch has seen its share of tragedy. Be glad you were not there 10-12 years ago....[V][V][V]

[edblysard]

Thats the things that was so odd, for years this guy has been sitting on his front porch, watching the trains, he knows what we are doing, and how the train is going to move....
Just one of thoes moments of total stupidity, I guess.

Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by CSSHEGEWISCH

Ed;
It's your alertness and that of your crew that saved a life and not so coincidentally helps win Harriman awards. Hats off to all of you for your alertness and attentiveness to your jobs.

The neighborhood in which I grew up was surrounded by tracks of several roads and my father stressed being careful around the tracks. Grade crossing accidents and trespasser accidents were relatively uncommon, probably because trains were an everyday part of neighborhood life. It's a shame that too many people never learned the safety lessons that I learned in my youth.