(The following article by Brad Crocker was posted on Gulflive.com on October 17.)
PASCAGOULA, Miss. — As a former locomotive engineer, Bob Martin was involved in more than 20 rail crossing accidents with motorists and pedestrians.
“I was in Vietnam for 33 months and had training for that. I was not trained to watch people needlessly lose their lives,” said Martin, who was involved in accidents ranging from slightly removing vehicles’ bumpers to multiple fatalities.
“I talked to a woman I stopped this morning who said she had a friend killed at a Mississippi crossing,” Martin said. “People don’t realize it touches everybody.”
On Thursday, he and other CSX and Mississippi Export Railroad officials and Pasca-goula police officers were at the U.S. 90 and Chicot and Hospital road rail crossings handing out literature, key chains and encouraging safety measures as part of Operation Lifesaver as motorists entered the two crossings.
Both Pascagoula highway-rail intersections, major north-south thoroughfares that connect with U.S. 90, are two of the most dangerous in the Southeast.
“This is well worth the effort right here,” Martin said.
Chicot Road has one of the highest incident rates, second only to Palm Beach, Fla., in an eight-state region of the Federal Railroad Administration.
In that region, Jackson County had 31 incidents resulting in one death and 10 injuries from 1997 to 2002. In Harrison County, according to the FRA, there were 84 incidents, with 23 deaths and 38 injuries.
“The last thing (engineers) see before they hit a vehicle is someone in that vehicle. They all stick with you and they have to live with that the rest of their lives,” said Martin, who now works as public safety coordinator for CSX Railroad, which has more than 27,000 rail crossings in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada.
Pascagoula Police Lt. Davey Davis said a major problem officers face is motorists trying to beat trains but mistaking lights and crossing arms as a false alarm and going around the barrier.
“It’s critical that people stop and give a good look at these crossings, especially when the crossing arms are down,” Davis said.
Davis said he stopped a motorist last week for going around the arms. The driver thought he only had to contend with an engine car, but it was attached to a train.
More than 50 percent of accidents occur when crossing lights, bells and arms are activated, Martin said.
“I just don’t think they think a train is coming,” Davis said.
“People are creatures of habit … and we’re here to try and break them of the bad ones like taking chances at railroad crossings.”
It takes a freight train traveling at 55 mph and an eight-car passenger train traveling at 79 mph a mile or more or at least 18 football fields to stop, Martin said.
“Engineers have to rely on drivers to take due care,” he said. “We want them to be more safe and aware of the crossings.
The safety education efforts Thursday were part of Operation Lifesaver’s program, which included a “blitz” of the Coast, which was also conducted for the first time at Cruisin’ The Coast.
Local fire departments are also assisting for the first time this year, said Donna Prince, executive director of Mississippi Operation Lifesaver.
“As a proactive educational medium, the blitzes allow (us) to get the message to the communities that crashes at railroad crossings are no accidents,” Prince said.
The Chicot and Hospital road crossings, which cost about $200,000, each have a placard with an 800 number that can be called when a vehicle is stuck or crossings malfunction.
“Within minutes, a dispatcher can make a call and we can stop a train. People just don’t know the signs are there, but they can save lives, too,” Martin said.
The “Look. Listen. Live.” message from CSX and the FRA was created after Operation Lifesaver began through a grassroots effort from an Idaho mother who was killed in a train-vehicle incident.
After the program’s first year, there was a 60 percent reduction in train-vehicle accidents and fatalities, Martin said.
People hunting, fishing, riding four-wheelers and walking on tracks, which is classified as vandalism, is another major obstacle for transportation officials to tackle.
“People think a rail line is public property, but you can stand on the track and go 50 feet in every direction, and that’s the railroad’s property, and being on that is criminal trespassing,” Martin said.
“Motorists and pedestrians are reminded not to use the railroad rights of way as parking lots, playgrounds or recreational areas,” Prince said. “(They’re) putting themselves, their passengers and train crews at risk of injury or even worse.”
In addition to manning the streets, Operation Lifesaver representatives also visit local schools and provide safety education ranging from animated videos for young students to establishing safe driving habits for high school students.