As the Chicago Tribune recently remembered a train-school bus collision that killed 7 in 1995, I looked at the statistics on vehicle-train crash fatalities. The numbers have dropped quite a bit in recent decades:
All Highway-Rail Incidents at Public and Private Crossings, 1981-2014
Source: Federal Railroad Administration
Year Collisions Fatalities Injuries 1981 9,461 728 3,293 1982 7,932 607 2,637 1983 7,305 575 2,623 1984 7,456 649 2,910 1985 7,073 582 2,687 1986 6,513 616 2,458 1987 6,426 624 2,429 1988 6,617 689 2,589 1989 6,526 801 2,868 1990 5,715 698 2,407 1991 5,388 608 2,094 1992 4,910 579 1,975 1993 4,892 626 1,837 1994 4,979 615 1,961 1995 4,633 579 1,894 1996 4,257 488 1,610 1997 3,865 461 1,540 1998 3,508 431 1,303 1999 3,489 402 1,396 2000 3,502 425 1,219 2001 3,237 421 1,157 2002 3,077 357 999 2003 2,977 334 1,035 2004 3,077 372 1,092 2005 3,057 359 1,051 2006 2,936 369 1,070 2007 2,776 339 1,062 2008 2,429 290 992 2009 1,934 249 743 2010 2,051 260 887 2011 2,061 250 1,045 2012 1,985 230 975 2013* 2,098 232 972 2014* 2,287 269 849 * Preliminary statistics
Based on the number of articles I’ve read plus personal experience driving at-grade crossings in the Chicago area (which has many cars driving over railroads tracks each day – in 2014, Illinois had the second most train-vehicle collisions in the country), there are several factors behind this decrease:
- Improved signage at many at-grade crossings.
- More barriers at crossings that make it difficult to go around gates (longer gate arms) or cross into other lanes (barriers in the middle of the road).
- Eliminating at-grade crossings with more underpasses and bridges. These can be expensive but they reduce crashes as well as save time for drivers who don’t have to wait for trains to pass.
Yet, these changes can’t control the actions of drivers as the Chicago Tribune article noted:
But experts say safety is a matter of attitude and awareness, not just signals and signs. That’s the message of groups like Operation Lifesaver and the DuPage Railroad Safety Council, an organization founded by Dr. Lanny Wilson after the death of his daughter at a rail crossing in 1994.
A 2013 University of Illinois at Chicago study found that as many as 4 in 10 Chicago-area pedestrians and bicyclists said they were at times willing to ignore flashing lights, ringing bells and gates at railroad crossings…
Barkan pointed to the Feb. 3 incident in Valhalla, N.Y., when a Metro-North Railroad commuter train struck an SUV at a grade crossing, killing six…
That crash could have been avoided, he said, if the driver had observed the “cardinal rule” of grade crossing safety: “Motorists must never enter a grade crossing until they have a clear exit path that equals or exceeds the length of their vehicle available on the other side of the tracks.”
Reaching zero traffic deaths on the roads also involves continuous improvement at such crossings.
Legally Sociable 