Look, listen and live.
That’s the message of Operation Lifesaver brought to Borderland by Minnesota Dakota and Western Railway officials last week.
Darwin Joslyn, local MD&W Railway manager, and David Grashorn, MD&W yardmaster, met with local officials to discuss rail safety at a luncheon sponsored by the International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the city of International Falls. The two men serve as Operation Lifesaver instructors.
Operation Lifesaver is an education program designed to provide safety information that could help avoid tragedies experienced recently in other communities where people were killed by trains. Presentations on the initiative are given to groups across the nation and locally. For more information on the program, call 1-800-537-6224 or see ww.oli.org/.
About every three hours, someone in the United States is hit by a train. On May 21, a 15-year old boy in the Iron Range town of Aurora was killed by a train as he crossed the tracks on his way to school. He had headphones around his neck, but it is not known if he was wearing them at the time of the accident. In April, a 64-year-old man was killed in the same town when he rode his bicycle into a moving train. Officials say the crossing signal was working properly at the time.
Rail crossings and trains are plentiful across Borderland and Joslyn and Grashorn said a few simple precautions can help save lives.
Joslyn explained that the 32 employees at MD&W operate like a family, which is why serving as Operation Lifesaver instructors is important to him.
“Tragedies happen every day,” said Joslyn.
A death from a train accident not only affects the victim’s family, but the entire community, including the engineer that witnessed, but could not stop the tragedy.
“For some of them, they are not able to do their jobs any longer,” said Joslyn of the engineer or switchman. “They have to live with it for the rest of their lives.”
Since 1972, train collisions across the United States are down 70 percent, which Joslyn attributed partly to the efforts of Operation Lifesaver.
But he notes that in 2011, 265 people were killed in auto crossing collisions in the nation, he said. That same year 427 people were killed as a result of trespassing and pedestrian crossing.
“Those are still unacceptable levels,” Joslyn said.
Safety tips
Joslyn said the “3 Es” of rail safety involve educating drivers, engineering safer crossings and enforcing the state’s laws.
Train and vehicle and pedestrian accidents not only pose dangers to the public, but also to the railroad crew, the men said.
And new distractions from cell phones and mp3 music players must be avoided, the men added.
At rail crossing approaches, drivers and pedestrians ought to slow, look, listen and always yield to trains, said Joslyn. Crossing illegally can result in a citation and, for professional drivers, the loss of their license for 60 days.
“Our guys come to the crossings cautiously,” said Joslyn. “Our guys are just trying to do their jobs as safely as they can.”
Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians must recognize that trains are committed to the tracks, and engineers are only able to control speed and brakes; they have no control over direction and can’t swerve to avoid animals, vehicles or people on the tracks.
Heavy trains carrying tons of material cannot stop quickly, Joslyn said. Automobiles traveling at 55 miles per hour can stop in 200 feet. A freight train traveling at the same speed may take up to one mile to stop. And while MD&W trains travel at a maximum speed of 10 mph, they still carry enough force to kill people and damage vehicles.
“When it comes to trains and automobiles, automobiles never win,” he said of collisions.
To illustrate the force of a train-vehicle collision, the men gave examples of a the damage to a pop can when run over by a car.
Should a vehicle stall on the tracks when a train is coming, Joslyn said the occupants must get out of the vehicle immediately and run at a 45-degree angle toward the train and away from the vehicle to avoid getting struck by shrapnel caused when the vehicle explodes into pieces from the force of the collision.
At crossings without signals, Joslyn reminded drivers that large objects, such as airplanes, appear to be moving slower than they are. He urged drivers never to shift while crossing tracks to avoid the risk of a stall, and to make sure the entire vehicle will be able to cross the tracks and not be stopped by traffic ahead.
Driving around the stop arms at a signaled crossing is illegal and dangerous.
“If you take a chance and go around the arms at a crossing, it might be the last chance you take,” said Grashorn.
He also noted that it is unsafe to walk or ride along tracks because trains are wider than the tracks by three feet on each side. And, he noted, straps on loads carried by trains may have broken and protrude even further.
“The rule of thumb is never get closer than 15 feet from tracks,” Joslyn said.
“If you fall in front of a moving train, there’s really no hope,” added Grashorn.
Grashorn discussed the dangers of trespassing on private railroad property, which he noted is illegal.
“Stay off, stay away and stay alive,” he encouraged.
Generally, railroad property lies 50 feet on both sides of the center line of the tracks.
Many people use the railroad property to jog, walk dogs or four-wheel. “Trains can be quiet and come up behind you fast,” he said. “Train tracks are for trains, not people.”
Crossing between the cars of a train stopped on the tracks is illegal and dangerous. Trains may jerk or begin traveling without warning, causing people to fall and be run over.
“People think it can never happen here,” said Grashorn. “I will tell you these things do.”
Joslyn recalled a time when he witnessed a local sports team out for a run cross between the cars of a train stopped on the tracks. He said he was so disturbed by potential risks that he met the team and its coach when they returned to the school to inform them that their activity was dangerous and illegal.
