Whether they race to the railway crossing, lose patience waiting or just don't see or hear the signals, someone is hit by a train about every 90 minutes in the United States.
The Transportation Department is launching a campaign to reduce that toll by reminding people crossing the tracks to "always expect a train.""In 1994 alone . . . over 6,000 people were hit by trains. Some were in their cars or trucks. Others were on foot. But most of them didn't understand the danger or actually ignored warning signs, signals or gates," Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said Tues-day.
Last year's toll included 598 deaths at road-rail crossings and 534 fatalities of people trespassing on tracks, Pena said. That's four times as many people as died in commercial airplane accidents during the year, yet public attention seems focused on aviation, Pena noted.
Sometimes people think a warning device is broken or simply don't pay attention because they don't realize a train could be crossing at any time.
"In short, many drivers don't expect a train. Too often they die or get hurt simply because they didn't know," Pena said.
"Always expect a train," said Pena, citing the slogan of the new awareness campaign involving the Association of American Railroads and Operation Lifesaver Inc., a public service group.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a study of auto drivers involved in fatal rail-highway crossing accidents.
The largest share were men, aged 25-34, and residents of rural areas, it found.
Use of chewing tobacco was common to 61 percent of these drivers, who tended to be hunters, readers of outdoor magazines, watchers of family shows on television and country music fans.