(The following Letter to the Editor by Heather Tuton appeared on The Forum website on May 20. Her father, L.V. Tuton, is a member of BLET Division 202 in Dilworth, Minn.)
FARGO, N.D. — I am once again reading with interest all the reasoning behind adding more security precautions in and around railroad crossings. I would never be opposed to adding more safety measures. However, the bottom line is human error causes most of these accidents.
People who decide that getting somewhere 10 minutes sooner, or people who have their music up so loud, or people that are so inebriated that they don’t hear or for that matter see a train coming.
As the daughter of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad engineer, I have seen and heard my fair share of horror stories about people being severely injured, and even more tragic, killed at crossings. What I want people to understand is that these are human beings that sit behind the “wheel” of the locomotives and they do not have the capability of stopping the train when they can see that an accident is probably going to occur. Remember the old adage, “look both ways before crossing”? These trains are not just coming out of nowhere. The tracks did not appear overnight. Let’s not lose sight of that.
The railroad can add as many cross arms, lights, bells and whistles, but it is ultimately up to the individual to check the crossing. Far too many times I have witnessed someone in a hurry who has gone around the downed arms.
Is your life really worth getting somewhere 10 minutes later?
Please also keep in mind that the person running the train has to live with the tragedy, even though they do everything they can to prevent an accident. Engineers are simply doing their job and do go through rigorous safety training, but they can only do so much. So please, in the future, be patient when you are waiting at a crossing and remember that your life is worth the 10-minute wait.
Heather Tuton
Fargo