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

Thu Jul 22 20:05:49 UTC 2010

I live about a block from railroad tracks in a large urban area that is also 
near a large hospital. They recently adopted a quiet zone in the center of 
the city where train whistles are not sounded as frequently. They have also 
made improvements to the surrounding area that muffles some of the train 
noise. While the trains are still definitely audible they are not as noisy. 
I have lived in large cities for years and most of the time it has been near 
train tracks and after a while you get used to it. When I first moved in to 
one apartment it was so close to the tracks that the vibrations of the train 
knocked a mirror off the wall on to carpeting. I'm much more bothered by 
noise from loud stereos and motorcycles.
Chuck
----- 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 11:58 AM
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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>>>
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