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

Thu Jul 22 20:31:33 UTC 2010

Same here, I love trains, but not everyone likes them.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ckrugman at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety" 
<quietcars at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quieter trains a risk to walkers, USA 
Today,04/05/10


>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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>>
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