Impatient drivers cause wrecks at rail crossings

["John Regan" <reganjd@clear.net.nz>]

http://www.herald.com/content/wed/news/dade/digdocs/038072.htm

 MIAMI-DADE


Published Monday, April 5, 1999, in the Miami Herald


Impatient drivers cause wrecks at rail crossings
During rush hour, the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 163rd
Street is one of the busiest in Miami-Dade County. It's also the site of a
railroad crossing dominated by large white signs warning drivers not to stop
on the tracks.
It means that traffic turning north onto Biscayne Boulevard must stop before
the tracks if they have a red light -- even if there is empty space on the
turn lanes just east of the tracks that could accommodate two small
vehicles.

While some drivers indeed obey the posted warnings, most don't. The reason:
pressure from other drivers.

Impatient motorists honk angrily at those who stop before the tracks, urging
them with hand signals or screams to cross the tracks and proceed to the
empty space. The pressure often works. Balking drivers give in easily and
move forward, frequently blocking the tracks.

How drivers behave at railroad crossings is increasingly relevant in light
of the deadly train-truck collision in Bourbonnais, Ill., March 15 that
killed 11 people and last week's car-train crash in West Palm Beach that
killed one person.

Michelle Fuente, 22, stopped her car Thursday night when warning lights
turned on at the crossing triggered by the approach of Amtrak's passenger
train bound for Miami from New York.

Pablo Valle, 33, tried to beat the train -- police said -- and sideswiped
Fuente's car while gunning his Ford Mustang across the tracks. The impact
propelled Fuente's Oldsmobile onto the tracks where it stalled.

Fuente and Caroline Taveras, 19, a friend in the front seat, got out of the
car, but Fuente's sister Jennifer, 19, stayed in the back seat and was
killed when the train smashed the car.

In Bourbonnais, federal investigators are trying to establish whether the
train-truck crash there was caused by an over-eager truck driver who entered
the railroad crossing despite warning signals that a train was coming.

The first witness to come forward said the truck driver was trying to snake
through lowered crossing gates to beat the train. The account appears to
corroborate statements by the engineer of the city of New Orleans train, who
said the truck driver tried to zigzag his tractor-trailer through the
crossing gates after they had come down.

Trucker John Stokes, 58, reportedly told investigators a different story:
that he could not see the train coming and that the gates were up when he
entered the crossing.

Whether Stokes or the witnesses are right, increasing disregard for railroad
crossing warnings is a nationwide problem -- perhaps at most, if not all, of
the nation's 270,000 urban and rural railroad crossings.

You don't have to go far to watch daring drivers perform death-defying acts
around railroad crossings.

Simply go to the one nearest you.

Even when the warning lights start to flash and the gates start to lower,
drivers speed up to beat the train.

No wonder car-train collisions occur almost hourly somewhere in the United
States, according to a statistic printed in a Florida Department of
Transportation leaflet on the dangers of railroad crossings.

In Florida, Miami-Dade County ranks sixth in the number of train-vehicle
crashes at rail crossings between 1991 and 1998, according to an analysis of
Federal Railroad Administration figures published Saturday by The Palm Beach
Post.

The county with the most such collisions was Palm Beach, with 102, followed
by Hillsborough (82), Broward (78), Duval (65), Polk (54) and Dade (47).

The National Operation Lifesaver Inc., a nonprofit nationwide organization,
is trying to eliminate crashes, injuries and fatalities at railroad
crossings.

Organization leaders outlined their philosophy during a congressional
session last week prompted by the Bourbonnais crash.

At a U.S. Senate hearing March 25, National Operation Lifesaver President
Gerri Hall said that while many people seek a magic wand to wave away rail
crossing tragedies, the only realistic solution is a systematic approach to
educate drivers and law enforcement personnel.

``Unfortunately, one single solution does not exist,'' Hall told the Senate
subcommittee on surface transportation and merchant marine.

Only ``continual, consistent programs'' to advance public education,
engineering and enforcement help to reduce incidents, Hall said.

``Just two years ago there was a collision between a vehicle and a train
approximately every 90 minutes, but now we can report that rate will drop to
every 110 minutes as the number of collisions dropped to 3,446 in 1998,
approximately an 8 percent decrease from 1997,'' Hall said.

While Hall credits the improvement to the group's strategy, the reality
remains that significant numbers of drivers continue to ignore rail crossing
risks.

Why?

Because there is no one supervising the crossings.

Drivers ignore the warning signs because police are not there enforcing the
law that directs that $100 tickets be written for rail crossing violations.

Just like the myriad other traffic violations that occur on the roads --
from turning without signaling to running red lights -- drivers disobey rail
crossing warnings because they know that the chance of getting caught is
slim.

For more information on railroad crossing safety, and possible solutions,
see the National Operation Lifesaver Inc. Web site: http://www.oli.org/