(The Birmingham News posted the following article by Malcomb Daniels on its website on March 27.)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — State Rep. Cam Ward on Tuesday asked the Alabama Department of Transportation for warning lights at a railroad crossing in Alabaster where two vehicles have been hit by trains in a little more than two weeks.
Ward, a Republican from Alabaster, sent DOT Director Joe McInnes a letter asking for the state’s help with a rail crossing on Eighth Avenue Northwest, where a husband and wife were hit Monday as they drove toward U.S. 31.
On March 10, a dump truck going in the opposite direction was hit by a locomotive as it crossed the tracks. Everyone involved in the two wrecks survived.
“Any time there’s that number of accidents in that short period of time, there’s obviously a problem that needs to be addressed,” Ward said. “What you don’t want to do is sit around and wait for someone to lose their life there.”
The crossing has a stop sign and rail-crossing signs. Ward said that, at minimum, he would like to see warning lights installed at the crossing. “This is a dangerous situation,” he said.
Ward, who was elected to the Legislature in 2002 and serves as director of Alabaster’s Industrial Development Board, knows what it’s like to be hit by a train.
In June 2001, his car was hit when he pulled in front of a train at a different rail crossing near Alabaster City Hall.
“I can tell you how scary it is,” Ward said of the experience. “It is a situation you don’t want anyone to have to go through.”
Efforts to reach state highway officials Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Rail companies don’t decide what type of warnings are put up at rail crossings. That decision is left to state departments of transportation, although the warning equipment is installed and maintained by the rail companies.
“CSX will willingly and effectively install any rail crossing the state of Alabama requests it to do,” CSX Railroad spokesman Dan Murphy said. “We will follow the lead of the state.”
Alabaster police traffic Sgt. Erik Fine said he’s not aware of any other train accidents at the Eighth Avenue Northwest rail crossing in recent months.
Considering the number of train tracks that crisscross the city, Alabaster has a low number of car-train accidents, Fine said.
“Anything that can be done at rail crossings to save lives, then I’m for it,” he said.
But even if lights or crossing guards are installed, people need to pay attention when crossing railroad tracks, something more and more people are failing to do, Fine said.
State law requires drivers to “stop, look and listen” at the type of crossing on Eighth Avenue Northwest, Fine said. “This type of accident can be eliminated.”
Jack Zuiderhoek, a former Alabaster public works director, was crossing the railroad on Eighth Avenue Northwest about four years ago when a train hit the front of his truck and knocked it off the track.
Zuiderhoek said drivers who get hit probably are not paying as much attention as they should, but there’s still a need to improve the warnings at railroad crossings. “I was lucky,” he said.