OAKLAND, Calif. — Deaths on the Caltrain tracks hit their lowest level in a decade this year, a trend officials attribute both to good luck and a series of efforts to curb one of the grimmest trends on the Peninsula, reports the Oakland Tribune.
There have been only five deaths so far in 2002, fewer than half the number last year and the lowest figure since 1992, the year after the Joint Powers Board began operating Caltrain.
“We’re turning it around,” said Mike Nevin, a Caltrain director and a county supervisor. “I’ve got to believe and hope the law enforcement and education are starting to sink in.”
Caltrain officials kicked off a campaign on many fronts to cut down on track deaths during 2000, when the year’s 17 deaths captured a significant amount of media attention.
Since then Caltrain has installed thousands of feet of new fencing, reconfigured stations to make them safer, aired safety spots on TV and radio and installed hundreds of signs with a suicide hot line number along the tracks.
Perhaps the most significant change has been police enforcement against trespassing on the 77-mile line.Safety blitz
In July 2001, Caltrain officials held a “zero tolerance” safety blitz. Transit police combed the tracks in a helicopter outfitted with high-power cameras and infrared sensors. On the ground, police slapped trespassers with $1,000 citations.
Transit police were busy again this year on the rails, ejecting 520 people from Caltrain property, arresting 85 andhanding out 325 misdemeanor citations and 255 pedestrian and vehicle citations through November, said Jayme Maltbie, a Caltrain spokeswoman.
Suicide attempts
Amtrak Police Detective Jim Martino said another factor in the drop is the number of “saves” this year. Martino said about eight people, who appeared to be ready to commit suicide, were pulled off the tracks.
In one incident at the San Antonio station in Mountain View, Martino said, two Caltrain passengers talked a man off the tracks who was threatening to commit suicide. The passengers called police and the man was taken into protective custody.
Caltrain officials also have stepped up a program to educate students about the dangers of the rails, visiting 21 schools this year, as opposed to three last year. Some of the County’s schools back up to the Caltrain tracks.
Tony Ciardella, a community relations specialist, said he takes a hard-hitting approach with high school students, showing them a photograph of a car whose driver sneaked around a lowered crossing gate and was smashed by Caltrain.
“I try to get real life stuff out of the newspaper that will bring home the dangers of the Caltrain tracks,” he said.
There have been 113 deaths on the tracks since 1992. Only one death this year has been an accident. Three others were ruled suicides, and a cause of death has not been issued for another fatality.
Richard Silver, executive director of the Rail Passengers Association of California, believes Caltrain has done a great job the last few years.
“Caltrain definitely deserves credit,” he said. “They have gone overboard to inform people about how dangerous the rails are.”