Operation Lifesaver
Fact: A motorist is 40 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.
Fact: In the US, approximately every 100 minutes a train collides with a person or a vehicle.
Fact: The majority of highway-rail crashes occur when the train is traveling less than 30 m.p.h.
- Train tracks are private property, no matter which railroad owns them. Trains have the right of way 100% of the time - over ambulances, fire engines, cars, the police and pedestrians.
- A typical locomotive weighs approximately 400,000 pounds or 200 tons. When 100 railcars are added to the locomotive, the train can weigh approximately 6,000 tons. The weight ratio of an automobile to a train is proportional to a soda can and an automobile.
- Trains cannot stop quickly. It is a simple law of physics: the huge weight and size of the train and the speed of the train dictate how quickly it can stop under ideal conditions. A 100-car freight train traveling at 55 miles per hour will need more than a mile to stop - that's approximately 18 football fields - once the train is set into emergency braking.
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Angels On Track
Of the approximately 154,000 public railroad
grade crossings in the United States - only approximately
23% are gated.
Gates (always equipped with lights) are 90% more effective in preventing accidents at railroad crossings than those marked only with crossbucks or stop signs.
Railroad grade crossing accidents are caused by:
- Lack of gates
- Sight obstructions blocking a motorists view
- Blocked crossings
- Railroads not following required safety procedures
- Lights/gates not working properly
- Non-reflectorized rail cars
- Inappropriate driving
- Existing hazards at crossings such as: humped crossing, skewed angle, multiple tracks, etc.
- Private crossings have no advance markings or warning devices
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June 12, 2009
