(The following story by Katie Williams appeared on the Fort Dodge Messenger website on June 26.)
FORT DODGE, Iowa — Imagine a car hitting a pop can. Now imagine a train hitting a car.
Dirk Peterson, manager of operating practices for Union Pacific Railroad, said the two are almost the same thing.
“A car is 4,000 times heavier than a pop can and a train is 4,000 times heavier than a car,” said Don Heddinger, Operation Lifesaver presenter for the Union Pacific Railroad. “You are 20 times more likely to die when you’re hit by a train than you are if you were to be hit by a car while driving.”
To promote safety, Union Pacific Railroad teamed up with the Fort Dodge Police Department, the Iowa Highway Patrol and the Webster County Sheriff’s Department for Operation Officer on a Train exercise, Wednesday.
Jason Bahr, detective for the Webster County Sheriff’s Department, traveled with Peterson on a train that traveled through Fort Dodge for two hours. During the run they looked for motorists who didn’t stop at the flashing red railroad lights. Bahr would then radio to officers in cars who would ticket the drivers.
Bahr said he has volunteered for the project three years running but it was the first time he was assigned to be in the train.
“It’s a good project because it brings people’s attention to the safety issue,” Bahr said. “If it saves one life, it’s worth it.”
He said they had written four or five tickets within the first hour.
“Anytime is train time,” Heddinger said. “You never know when they are coming.”
Every two hours in the United States, a train collides with a car – and the car never wins, Heddinger said.
Most collisions happen when the motorist is within 25 miles from his home, he said.
”The theory is that they get complacent,” Heddinger said. ”Every other time you have crossed the tracks a train hasn’t been there and the one time that you don’t look it could hit you.”
Heddinger said motorists need to be very observant as they cross railroad crossings and always yield to the train.
”It’s the law,” Heddinger said.