(The following story by Victor Inge appeared on The Selma Times-Journal website on April 12. Rodney E. Houser and D.D. Cummings are members of BLET Division 223 in Selma, Ala.)
SELMA, Ala. — Norfolk Southern engineers say they ride the rails day and night in Selma and Dallas County and often see pedestrians and motorists taking chances with trains they really shouldn’t.
That’s why the Safety Committee of Selma’s Norfolk Southern Corporation office was out Wednesday morning at the Lapsley Street crossing slowing traffic and handing out pamphlets, key chains and cups promoting safety at railroad crossings.
Operation Lifesaver is provided in the interest of safety, and designed to teach the public to “Look, Listen and Live.”
While the employees lined the center of Lapsley Street at the railroad crossing, nobody stood on the tracks.
Rodney Houser, chairman of the safety committee in Selma, said rule No. 1 is to never stand on the tracks.
Conductors told the story of children running, trying to beat a train – not across a street crossing, but across elevated trusses.
Dewayne Cummings of Prattville, and Michael Story of Valley Grande, are Operation Lifesaver presenters.
“We’ll go and speak to just about anybody that’ll listen,” Story said, adding they speak at schools and industries – recently presenting a program for employees of Alagasco.
Willie Mullens II, Selma operations manager, said there are more than 100 employees of Norfolk Southern who work out of his Jeff Davis Avenue office.
“Today we have the safety committee out. We put down these cones and are handing out our brochures,” Mullens said. “When I was an engineer we had some near fatal incidents. The guys that ride the rails every day and night see potential problems, so we’re out here trying to make the public aware of the danger involved in taking risks with trains.”
They safety committee consists of John Haskel, David Hopkins, Cliff Deer, J.C. Smith, Jeff Snow, Mike Smith, Norman Payne, Willie Smith and Mike Lazenby. The men lined the center of the Jeff Davis Avenue crossing and promoted safety with each motorist passing.
The brochure, Key Safety Tips at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings, contains quick information about crossings such as the meaning of signs.
Though most aren’t required to stop at a crossing when a train is not detected, all vehicles must yield to the tracks, Houser said.
School buses, commercial buses, and trucks carrying hazardous materials are required to stop at every crossing.