(The following story by Gale Rose appeared on the Pratt Tribune website on April 16. T.G. Jones is Secretary-Treasurer of BLET Division 740 in Pratt, Kan.)
PRATT, Kan. — Wait a minute. It could save your life.
A minute is all the time it takes for a mile long train traveling at 60 mph to go past an intersection.
Yet every year drivers risk their lives at railroad crossings because they are in a hurry or they have gone across a crossing so many times they become complacent and don’t think about it or they are so impatient they just don’t want to wait.
The result is thousands of close calls a year and the inevitable collision.
Sadly, most of these collisions end in a fatality.
Educating drives about the dangers at railroad crossings it the goal of Operation Lifesaver.
Thursday afternoon, Pratt Police Department, Pratt County Sheriff’s Department and the Union Pacific Railroad, joined forces in Operation Lifesaver in an effort to help educate the driving public about the dangers of railroad crossings and the hazards of driving around the crossing arms.
For several hours Thursday afternoon, two Union Pacific locomotives, operated by Union Pacific Engineer Tyler Jones and Union Pacific Conductor Rod Gwinn made trip after trip from the North Main crossing to past Skyline and sometimes out to the Coats road.
City and county officers were stationed at crossings to observe and ticket, if necessary, anyone who drove around crossing arms or crossed the tracks too close to the locomotives.
Drivers were very attentive Thursday with only one driver being ticketed, Gwinn said.
Gwinn has been a conductor for six years and Jones has been with the railroad for over nine years. Their run goes from Pratt to Dalhart, Texas.
Both men have seen numerous close calls during their careers. On the average they see one close call every trip.
“It’s not rare, not rare at all,” Tyler said. “You learn to expect it. Close calls are part of the job.”
Both men have been involved in two crossing accidents. A crossing accident affects everyone involved including the crew in the locomotive.
“It’s not a pleasant feeling,” Gwinn said. “You never forget it.”
Impatience and inattention are a drivers enemy. If a driver gets into the habit of driving around cross arms or driving through a crossing with just crossbucks, it will eventually lead to disaster.
“If you are lucky enough to live to tell about it, you won’t be so lucky the next time. Eventually, you will lose,” Gwinn said.
If staying alive isn’t enough motivation to check for trains and wait at a crossing, try this. The fine for driving around crossing arms is $180 in addition to $60 in court costs.
“If you get caught, it’s pretty effective (education for the driver),” Gwinn said.
The saddest part of all crossing accidents is that they could have been avoided if the driver had just stopped to check for trains or not been so impatient. Gwinn offered some simple but effective advice for drivers at crossings.
“Stop, Look and live,” Gwinn said. “One minute of your life isn’t much time,”
The one driver who was ticketed Thursday learned a valuable lesson, one that may save his or her life some day.
“The main reason we do this (Operation Lifesaver) is for safety,” said Pratt County Sheriff Vernon Chinn. “It’s our goal to alert people. Everyone who went around crossing arms and was hit didn’t see the train.”
Controlled crossings give drivers obvious signs of approaching trains but uncontrolled intersections are extremely dangerous. With no visible indicators, other than crossbucks, the driver must take the responsibility of stopping and looking both ways before crossing.
“Driving is a full time job,” Chinn said. “Most drivers are more intent on going on than looking for trains.”
Drivers sometimes forget that trains always have the right-of-way, Chinn said.
The simple fact is that trains can’t stop quickly. They just have too much inertia to stop in a short distance.
Statistically, most railroad crossing accidents happen close to home. Drivers count on being able to see the trains but sometimes look and don’t see the train. Drivers must always drive defensively and expect a train to be coming, Chinn said.