Union Pacific conductor Patrick McGarvey was involved in his first train-car fatality in the early '80s. "I still can see those faces." Shock. Terror. Panic.
"They stay with you forever," he says.A woman was driving; her husband, her son and a neighbor's boy in the car. She thought she could make it across the tracks before the train got there. She was wrong. The car was hit, flipped around, her husband thrown out . . . and killed.
"All that, so she could save a few minutes' time. There was nothing we could have done," says McGarvey. "But it haunts you. Sometimes, you just have to wonder what goes through people's minds."
Unfortunately, he says, they see people doing stupid things like that all the time.
In 1997, 27 train-car collisions in Utah resulted in three fatalities and eight serious injuries; in 1998, 17 train-car collisions led to three fatalities. So far in 1999, there have been four collisions but no fatalities.
Every year in this country, more people are killed in highway-rail crashes than in commercial airline crashes. In 1997, 3,865 collisions resulted in 461 fatalities. The recent train-truck crash in Illinois is only the latest example of a tragedy that did not need to happen, says Jerry Hardesty, manager of public safety for Union Pacific's Western Region.
On Friday, Union Pacific and city and county law enforcement officers sponsored a ride-along to help raise public awareness of laws and problems at railroad crossings. For the most part motorists were well-behaved, but several citations were issued to drivers who drove around gates or crossed the tracks after warning signals flashed.
Driver inattention and impatience are the most common factors contributing to collisions between motor vehicles and trains at highway crossings, notes Hardesty.
A highway-rail grade crossing presents a unique traffic environment for motorists. Many drivers don't cross tracks often enough to be familiar with the warning devices designed for their safety. Others simply ignore all warning signs because they are in a hurry and would rather play "beat the train" than wait.
Most people don't realize that there are only 12 seconds after lights start flashing before gates come down -- and not much more before the train gets there.
The law is clear on what is required of motorists: If you see flashing lights at a crossing, you are required to stop. If the gate is down, you are not allowed to go around it. If there isn't a gate or warning lights, at what is called a crossbuck (a white, reflectorized X-shaped sign), that is to be treated as a yield sign; you proceed only if the track is clear.
Laws deal with pedestrians, too. Railroad property is private property, and no trespassing is allowed. You cannot walk along the tracks, play on bridges, bungee jump from trestles or do any of the other stupid things people do.
A lot of people don't realize how a train operates or how long it takes to slow down, says engineer Jim Swanbeck. The fact of life, he says, pausing to let it sink in, is: "We. Can't. Stop."
Do the math: a 150-car freight train traveling at 30 miles-per-hour will need 3,500 feet or two-thirds of a mile to stop. At 50 mph, it will need 1 1/2 miles to stop.
At best, if he sees a car breaching the crossing, an engineer can reduce speed by maybe a mile an hour before reaching the crossing -- not enough to make any difference.
And do this math as well, Swanbeck says: A car or truck at best weighs 1 1/2 tons. A freight train can weigh as much as 15,000-20,000 tons. Guess which one doesn't have much of a chance in a colli- sion. "We don't even have to be going fast for there to be a lot of damage. You have a lot of mass ramming into something small."
The longest train Swanbeck has driven was about a 1 3/4 miles long. Even one that size, going 10 mph would mean "10 minutes max" that anyone would have to wait at a crossing. Most waits are less than that. "What it comes down to," Swanbeck says, "is messing up your life for 10 minutes.
"When I see mothers with a van full of kids try to go around our gates -- and you see it all the time -- it disgusts me. It makes me mad. To me, it says they don't care about themselves or anybody else.
"If you're that concerned, leave earlier or take a different route," he pleads. "Don't risk your life to save a couple of minutes out of your day."