CHICAGO — If he beat the train, he would be on time. That’s what 17-year-old Luke Wilson was thinking as he raced his Jeep on a street adjacent to the roaring train, the American Medical News reports.
Crossing the tracks before the train arrived and avoiding the wait at the railroad crossing would make his sister Lauren, 14, on time for dress rehearsal of her school play, “The Phantom Tollbooth.”
Luke and Lauren didn’t make it.
As Luke swerved around the lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks, the train smashed into the Jeep’s passenger side, killing Lauren and seriously injuring Luke.
Losing his precious brown-haired, bubbly daughter that day nearly eight years ago started Lanny Wilson, MD, on a crusade to prevent deaths at railroad crossings.
When he first heard the news of Lauren’s death, Dr. Wilson couldn’t believe his daughter was dead. “People don’t get killed at railroad crossings,” he thought to himself. He was devastated but continued to practice as an ob-gyn in Hinsdale, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Caring for his patients helped distract him from his misery.
Within two months of the March 1994 crash, Dr. Wilson was leading his community to improve safety at railroad crossings. Today, through the DuPage (County) Railroad Safety Council that he chairs, he advocates safety measures designed to prevent train-vehicle collisions.
“There is a tragedy waiting to happen,” he warns. “If I can help prevent even one family from having to live through this tragedy, then all my work is worthwhile.”
Remembering Lauren Dr. Wilson doesn’t avoid the tracks where Lauren died. He often drives through the crossing on his way around Hinsdale. His wife, Linnea, and Luke won’t go there. Too painful.
On Lauren’s birthday and other occasions, Dr. Wilson visits the spot, and, at a tree near the site, places imitation flowers, ones that best survive the weather. It is here that he feels closest to his daughter, who loved theater, served as freshman class president and joked that she would someday do a “Ronald Reagan” — become an actor then president.
“I go to keep in touch with Lauren’s spirit,” said Dr. Wilson, 51.
Dr. Wilson said his faith has helped him deal with the loss. He also found peace when he read When Bad Things Happen to Good People, which helped him to realize he needed to live for something rather than focus on the past and stay angry.
Initially, Dr. Wilson was angry at Luke, who sustained broken bones and abdominal injuries in the collision. Those feelings soon faded as Dr. Wilson reasoned that something else was to blame. Something that preyed on the innocent like a monster.
He dubbed this beast CAGOR. It stands for Crossings At Grade On Railways and refers to crossings where trains and vehicles meet at the same level. In CAGOR, the soft-spoken, gentle-mannered Dr. Wilson sees a dangerous killer that he must battle.
“If a wild animal had killed my daughter, I would want to do something to make sure that wild animal didn’t kill somebody else’s children,” he said.
Shortly after Lauren’s death, the DuPage County Board organized a railway safety committee that included Dr. Wilson. The group led to the formation of the DuPage Railroad Safety Council in April 1994, and Dr. Wilson led the group as its chair.
The council lobbies to close crossings or to add safety measures, such as four crossing gates instead of two to prevent drivers from going around them. Dr. Wilson wants underpasses and overpasses built to keep traffic away from trains.
In DuPage County, the council played a key role in getting three cameras installed at crossings to film motorists who unlawfully snake around lowered crossing gates.
Marmie Edwards, spokeswoman for the railway safety awareness program Operation Lifesaver, said of Dr. Wilson: “He has helped to save many lives, particularly in the Chicago area.” According to the latest figures from the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 3,502 collisions at highway-rail crossings in 2000, resulting in 1,219 injuries and 425 deaths nationwide.
Safety efforts have led to the closing of 30,000 crossings since 1991, said FRA spokesman Warren Flatau. Train-vehicle deaths have dropped from 698 in 1990 to 425.
Dr. Wilson believes Lauren would be proud of his efforts to help save lives.
“Lauren was a loving and caring person,” he said. “She’d be helping me if she were here.”