(The Post and Courier posted the following article by Jessica Vanegeren on its website on May 15.)
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Sitting roughly 1,000 feet from the intersection of Leeds Avenue and CSXT Safe Way in North Charleston was a mangled white Geo Prism, its driver barely visible behind the shattered windshield and crushed side panels of the driver’s side door.
His cuts and bruises were applied Wednesday morning moments before it was time for him to take his place in a staged vehicle-train wreck orchestrated by the Local Emergency Planning Commission, CSX Transportation and Operation Lifesaver.
The North Charleston fire and police departments, Charleston County emergency personnel and CSX Hazardous Materials responded to the phony 911 call as part of National Operation Lifesaver Awareness Week.
“We just set up the scenario. We don’t script it, and we don’t rehearse,” said Shawn Jones, a captain with the Charleston County Emergency Preparedness Department. “All they know when they get here (to the accident) is a train hit a car, and there are injuries.”
Seven people were killed and 30 were seriously injured in 2000, the most recent year for which numbers were available, while crossing railroad tracks in South Carolina, according to the state Public Safety Department. Nine pedestrians were killed while trespassing on railroad tracks.
“It happens a lot,” Jones said. “People blow right through intersections, even with gates down or lights flashing.”
Wednesday’s exercise had two purposes: to give emergency personnel practice in handling a vehicle-train wreck with a chemical spill and to educate the driving public on the need to cross tracks safely. Drivers have a 40 percent greater chance of dying in a crash with a train than with another vehicle.
The set-up scenario in the North Charleston neighborhood was chosen for its proximity to a residential neighborhood. Most train-vehicle trashes occur within 25 miles of the motorist’s home.
A familiar path home leads to driver complacency, said Janice Cowen, state coordinator with Operation Lifesaver. Unlike years past, trains seldom stick to strict schedules, so you have to expect a train at every set of tracks, she said.
“They don’t have a steering wheel to swerve. It’s up to you and me as motorists to approach every railroad crossing with caution,” Cowen said.