[Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA Today, 04/05/10

Thu Jul 22 19:35:05 UTC 2010

Some areas have quiet zones.
A Denver suburb set one up, I think it is Commers city, unles the court 
overturned it.
I bet that light rail drivers all across the country come home with headakes 
every day.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
To: "Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety" 
<quietcars at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA 
Today,04/05/10


>
>
> I don't often hear them blowing horns, but there is a signal bell that 
> rings moments before the safety gates come down to close off traffic as 
> the train comes through.  I think it's mostly the horns people are 
> complaining about. I don't know of any actual effort to pass legislation 
> forbidding the "noise," but apparently some folks (hopefully a small 
> minority) seem to think that would be a good idea.
>
> Debbie
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "michael townsend" <mrtownsend at optonline.net>
> To: "'Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety'" 
> <quietcars at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 4:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA 
> Today,04/05/10
>
>
>> Deb, are you stating that they don't like the whistles and bells to warn 
>> the
>> pedestrians?  It is the duty of the conductor to blow the whistle and 
>> ring
>> the bell with frequency when they approach a crossing or a commuter stop. 
>> I
>> live three blocks from a commuter stop and the trains signal the stop 
>> much
>> before they get to that stop.  At certain times, there are different 
>> signals
>> sent in the form of warning horns and bells, and I can't figure out what
>> those are.  However, one thing that I do know for sure the pneumatic 
>> horns
>> they use are loud, and you can't miss them, except if your ears are 
>> plugged
>> with headphones and music.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
>> On
>> Behalf Of Deborah Kent Stein
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 3:52 PM
>> To: Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety
>> Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA Today,
>> 04/05/10
>>
>>
>>
>> In my neighborhood I have to cross train tracks to walk up to the main
>> business street.  Fortunately there is a bell that rings as a signal when
>> the train is coming.  However, I have heard that in some communities 
>> people
>> are complaining about these warning sounds, even at legitimate pedestrian
>> crossings.  So we may need to keep on top of this issue.
>>
>> Debbie
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dewey Bradley" <dewey.bradley at att.net>
>> To: "Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety"
>> <quietcars at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 10:47 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA
>> Today,04/05/10
>>
>>
>>>I don't know why this is so hard to figure out, Train tracks are not
>>>public proprerty, unless you are at a crossing.
>>> Quiet cars are something totally different.
>>> If people don't have the sence to stay off the tracks, they wouldn't
>>>get  hit now would they?
>>> Too offten kids are trust passing on train tracks, witch are private
>>>property, and they get hurt, the pairents always want to sue.
>>> What's wrong with americans now days.
>>> No one wants to take responsibility for there actions anymore.
>>> Its just like when people pull a gun on a police officer, what the
>>>heck do  you expect to happen?
>>> If you are at a train crossing, and they have the bells and light, and
>>>or  the horn, then what do you have to worry about, that's the only
>>>place you  should cross the tracks, like I said, they are private 
>>>property.
>>> Its the same thing as crossing the interstate.
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
>>> To: <quietcars at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 10:30 AM
>>> Subject: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA Today,
>>>04/05/10
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Quieter trains a risk to walkers
>>>>
>>>> By Larry Copeland
>>>>
>>>> Pedestrian deaths remain steady even as fatalities from train-vehicle
>>>> crashes decline
>>>>
>>>> Anna Marie Stickel, 14, missed the school bus that morning. So she
>>>> took a shortcut along some railroad tracks that made her trek to
>>>> school about 10 minutes; going the long, safe way around would have
>>>> taken 30-40 minutes, her
>>>>
>>>> mother says.
>>>>
>>>> Listening to her iPod as she and a friend walked along the tracks in
>>>> January, Anna Marie of Middle River, Md., was hit and killed by an
>>>> Amtrak train.
>>>>
>>>> Anna Marie's friend, who was not listening to music, heard the train
>>>> just in
>>>>
>>>> time to jump to safety, says Anna Marie's mother, Tara Stickel, 38.
>>>> They are
>>>>
>>>> deadly quiet," she says of today's trains and tracks. My baby girl
>>>> had no idea. I know for a fact she hadn't been told how dangerous
>>>> they are. And I am just as much to blame for that. I never saw those
>>>> tracks as a threat.
>>>>
>>>> Rail-safety advocates and federal authorities are trying to determine
>>>> how to
>>>>
>>>> reduce fatalities involving trains and pedestrians, which far
>>>> outstrip deaths in train-vehicle collisions.
>>>>
>>>> Over the past 10 years, the number of deaths involving trains and
>>>> motor vehicles has dropped 42% to 248. In the same period, deaths
>>>> involving pedestrians have fallen  6% to 434, the Federal Railroad
>>>> Administration says. That's (incidents with pedestrians) the No. 1
>>>> cause of death in the railroad industry," FRA spokesman Rob Kulat says.
>>>>
>>>> Rail-safety advocates are especially concerned about teenagers killed
>>>> accidentally by trains in hangout spots on or near the tracks. We are
>>>> working so hard to try to figure out a way to turn this around," says
>>>> Marmie
>>>>
>>>> Edwards of Operation Lifesaver, an international rail-safety advocacy
>>>> group.
>>>>
>>>> It may be that in some parts of the country, the railroad tracks are
>>>> a little bit secluded," Edwards says. So (teens) think it's a place
>>>> where they
>>>>
>>>> can go to just hang out without other people knowing what they're 
>>>> doing.
>>>> Sometimes, when you tell this age group this is not where you should
>>>> go, that's where they're going to want to go
>>>>
>>>> A quiet danger
>>>>
>>>> Trains are a lot quieter than they used to be.
>>>>
>>>> Rails are built in longer, continuous sections of track, so the
>>>> familiar "clackety-clack" of wheels on the track is gone in many
>>>> places. The trains themselves are quieter. Communities across the USA
>>>> have enacted "quiet zones," where operators are barred from sounding
>>>> their horns during certain times of day.
>>>>
>>>> That quiet is one reason the number of pedestrians killed by trains
>>>> has remained steady. Another reason: Many people wear headphones or
>>>> talk on cellphones while ambling along railroad tracks.
>>>>
>>>> When you have train tracks this near high schools or middle schools
>>>> and students use it as a shortcut, you really need to educate
>>>> children on what's
>>>>
>>>> going on," says Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., who helped set
>>>> up train-safety assemblies at Anna Marie's high school.
>>>>
>>>> People take shortcuts across the tracks. Hunters walk along them.
>>>> People ride all-terrain vehicles on them and sit on them to fish.
>>>>
>>>> Many people simply fail to understand how dangerous trains are, says
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>> Ratcliffe, executive director of Maryland Operation Lifesaver, which
>>>> puts on
>>>>
>>>> safety lessons for students and others.
>>>>
>>>> We tell them the train overhangs on each side by at least 3 feet, and
>>>> they can overhang by as much as 12," Ratcliffe says. We tell them
>>>> they don't build trains like they did, and they're a lot quieter. We
>>>> explain why walking or walking the dog or hanging out on tracks is so
>>>> dangerous and why it's against the law.
>>>>
>>>> Looking at suicides
>>>>
>>>> It's unclear how many of the deaths are intentional. Kulat says the
>>>> FRA does
>>>>
>>>> not track suicides but estimates that 20% to 50% of train-pedestrian
>>>> deaths involve people taking their own lives. Railroads reporting a
>>>> death soon will
>>>>
>>>> have to indicate whether it was a suicide.
>>>>
>>>> Of 33,000 annual suicides in the USA, 1%-2% occur on railroads.
>>>> Suicide by rail is "highly lethal, and it's accessible," says Matthew
>>>> Wintersteen, clinical psychologist at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson
>>>> University and a member of the Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention
>>>> Initiative. If we can restrict access to lethal means, we can reduce
>>>> the number of suicides.
>>>> The
>>>> problem, of course, is ... can we restrict public access to the train
>>>> tracks?
>>>>
>>>> Among recent intentional teen deaths:
>>>>
>>>> *Two girls in Delaware killed themselves in February by stepping in
>>>> front of
>>>>
>>>> a high-speed Amtrak train. The girls had made a suicide pact,
>>>> according to police.
>>>>
>>>> *A high school freshman in Pleasanton, Calif., stepped in front of a
>>>> Union Pacific train near her school in February.
>>>>
>>>> Kulat says a freight train going 60 mph takes about a mile to stop
>>>> after the
>>>>
>>>> emergency brake is applied. You can't stop. You can't turn, obviously.
>>>> You
>>>> just have to watch it happen. ... There's the trauma that train
>>>> engineers go
>>>>
>>>> through (after hitting someone). They go through post-traumatic
>>>> stress counseling. The one thing they talk about is that they see the
>>>> people's eyes
>>>>
>>>> right before they hit them. A lot of those engineers don't return to
>>>> work.
>>>>
>>>>
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