(The following story by Janice Peterson appeared on the Daily Herald website on October 9. P.J. Hansen is a member of BLET Division 222 in Salt Lake City, Utah.)
PROVI, Utah — The Safety Train made a stop in Provo Monday to raise awareness about train crossing hazards.
The Union Pacific train is in Utah for the week, traveling to different cities with the safety presentation. The 1950s era passenger train also travels around the United States educating people about safety issues the company has had to deal with.
“We try to use it for public relations and education,” said Vern Keesler, with Operation Lifesaver Utah.
Keesler said the presentation is made every year with the cooperation of the Provo police department and Union Pacific officials.
Police officers were parked near train crossings Monday and gave tickets to people who violated train safety laws.
“We give tickets,” he said. “That’s part of the education.”
Keesler needed no props to illustrate his point, as a half dozen people were stopped by police in less than a half hour during the presentation.
Some people tried to beat the train after the gates went down, others impatiently crossed the tracks before the gates raised after the train passed through.
A group of schoolchildren from Franklin Elementary School will need to see the presentation when it comes around next year, he said. Just minutes before passengers boarded the train to hear Keesler’s warnings, eight children ran over the tracks.
“Gates were down, lights were flashing,” he said. “Eight elementary kids. Just terrifying.”
Keesler said he hopes Safety Train will help reduce the number of accidents involving trains in Utah. Every two hours, he said, there is a collision involving a train somewhere in the country.
Many accidents can be avoided if people understand the risks involving trains.
“When [trains] are travelling 55 miles per hour, it’s going to take 18 football fields for them to be able to stop,” he said. “That’s a real wake-up call. Not a lot of people know that.”
Although the trains normally run much faster, they only travelled at about 10 to 12 mph during Monday’s presentation. Keesler said the train’s slow speed on the short amount of track it ran between was in the interest of safety.
“The last thing we want to do is hit people when we’re on the Safety Train,” he said.
One of the problems in a city like Provo is that there are multiple tracks next to each other across the city. Cars or pedestrians may see one train slowly moving out of the way, but then fail to see a faster train coming the opposite way, Keesler said.
John Haering, manager of operating practices for Union Pacific in Provo, said he thinks the program is working and people have become more aware over the years.
In Nephi, he said, there used to be big problems with people running across the tracks or driving around the gates. Now, he said, the numbers have greatly diminished.
“I think people are becoming more aware,” he said. “I think it makes a difference.”
Haering said people can learn the dangers of a train if a friend has been involved in an accident, but he’d rather educate than let citizens learn the hard way.
After 17 years of driving trains, Haering said he saw his share of collisions.
“I’ve hit probably four or five cars,” he said. “That’s plenty. Out of those, three fatalities.”
Pep Hansen, the engineer of the train, said he sees people try to beat the train all the time. He said a big problem is the impatience of the drivers or pedestrians.
It only takes about a minute and 20 seconds for the train to pass the line of cars, so drivers should not risk their lives to cross the tracks, he said.
“It’s not like a car wreck where you get out and yell at the other guy,” he said. “You don’t get out.”