MARCELINE, Mo. — Last year in the entire state of Missouri, four people were killed while crossing railroad tracks. This year that number has increased dramatically to 12 so far, and four of those have happened in Northeast Missouri, according to Kansas City television station KTVO.
The main cause seems to be inattention. Sgt. Brent Bernhardt of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said, “They do make the look left and the look right, but they aren’t paying attention. There’s never a train there, so they go ahead and cross. Sometimes they get pretty sloppy about looking for that train.” Waybe Harbourn, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway said, “We are all guilty of complacency in some degree, but the situation is when you get to a railroad track the motorist has the responsiblity to yield to the train.”
Using a total of nine troopers and an airplane, the Missouri State Highway Patrol spent Thursday enforcing railroad crossing laws. Luckily, Bernhardt says they saw no violators on this run.
Bernhardt said, “Anytime the arms with those flashing signals come down motorists are required to stop.”
Something you may not think about everytime you cross a railroad crossing is that your vehicle may become stalled in the tracks. If that happens, officials say you should get out of the car and look for the 1-800 numbers on nearby signal control boxes, and call the number and hopefully they can get the train stopped before it makes the crossing. Trains moving through an intersection can travel as fast as 70 miles an hour.
Harbourn said, “When a train is running between 60-70 miles per hour it will take that train a mile of more to come to a complete stop. Once the brakes are put in what we call ’emergency stop’ there’s absolutely nothing else the train crew can do to avoid the crash.” Bernhardt says their “Bear in the Air” program is also in conjunction with their “Troopers on the Train” program in which officers actually ride on the trains looking for any violations. Both of these programs take place periodically throughout the year.
The best advice is still stop, look and listen when you come to a railroad crossing.