Preventing railroad deaths

I was reading the NWI Times when I came across a story about two people being killed at a rail crossing after trying to beat an Amtrak train. The saddest thing is that every single highway-rail accident is avoidable. All of them. Trains do not chase cars down the street or suddenly change lanes in front of you, it’s very easy to tell where they will be, just look for the tracks.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration there have been 16 highway-rail incidents so far through January in Indiana (compared to 22 for Jan. of 2007) resulting in 2 deaths and 13 injuries (2007 had 4 injuries and 1 death).
We live in an area with many congested railroad crossings. No matter how much we complain it is still a fact of life that to which we need to adjust. I have a friend that told me “I live five minutes from work, but have to leave thirty minutes early.” He plans for the trains so that he is not rushed and tempted to do dumb things.
We need to remember that, according to Operation Lifesaver, a freight train doing 55 mph, and an eight car passenger train doing 80 mph both take over a mile to stop.
We really need to think about what we have to do to stay on time when running errands, please take into account the fact that you will probably be stopped by a train.
There are steps communities can take to make crossings safer. Working with railroads some crossings can be closed, others crossings can have “barrier systems” installed that prevent vehicles from going around the gates. Extreme cases may be able to have overpasses or underpasses built to eliminate the crossing; this is being done in East Chicago and planned for in Munster.
It is up to us to be safe around the tracks and to teach our children to do the same. Although I know budgets are strained, we should speak to our elected officials to encourage them to increase awareness and to improve the crossings.
And please teach your children to stay off the tracks. Don’t play on them; don’t use them as walking trails. A train that is not accelerating or decelerating can be remarkable quiet, and with many people having music players with ear buds, or cell phones glued to the side of their head, they may never hear the train that kills them. Again, education is the key to keeping our kids safe, and enforcement is a tool that local police can use to raise awareness. Maybe if Johnny is brought home by the police with a trespassing ticket and has to go see Judge Harkin, mom or dad will apply some education of their own.
If nothing else, have mercy on the guy that has to wash the blood and gore off of the locomotive and check the undercarriage for body parts, stay off the tracks.