An Old Rule of the Road Still Works Today

Most collisions between motor vehicles and trains still occur at rural crossings. At those crossings, the rule of "stop, look and listen," is still a good safety practice, says a North Dakota State University safety specialist.

In 1997, 400 deaths resulted from collision between motor vehicles and trains in the United States. Fortunately, there were only 1,318 nonfatal collisions between trains and motor vehicles in 1997, down from 1996 when there were 1,428. "Practicing 'stop, look and listen’ at all rural railroad crossings is still a lifesaver," says George Maher of the NDSU Extension Service. "Every collision between a train and a motor vehicle is preventable."

The stopping ability of a motor vehicle - car, pickup, farm truck or tractor - and that of a train is simply not comparable, Maher notes. The average automobile weighs less than 2 tons while the average train weighs approximately 12,500 tons -- the train is 6,250 times heavier. A fully loaded farm truck can easily weigh 10 tons, but the train is still more than one thousand times heavier.

"The train will always take longer to stop," Maher says. "it simply cannot stop in time to prevent a collision."

Often, much more than a mile is needed to bring such weight to a safe stop. Even when the brakes are fully applied on the train, there is nothing more the crew can do; they are helpless to prevent a collision with a car or truck on the tracks. The motor vehicle is the only one that can stop in time.

"Train crews frequently report motor vehicles scooting across the tracks at the last minute," Maher says. "It is definitely illegal to drive around the crossing gates when they are down. When there are no crossing gates at rural crossings the decision is up to the driver of the motor vehicle. The time spent when waiting for a train to pass through the crossing is very little, compared to the time spent in a grave."

Maher offers some guidelines for applying the stop, look and listen rule.

Stop. When stopping at a crossing, urban or rural, do not pull right up to the sign or crossing gate. Stay back one or two vehicle lengths from the tracks while waiting for the train to pass. The greater the distance from the tracks the greater your margin of safety. When a train derails, anything that is in the way becomes involved and is destroyed in the process.

Look. Rural crossings do not always present the best visibility. Rural crossings rarely have sophisticated warning equipment -- usually just the crossbucks or caution sign. That means rural drivers simply must look more carefully for trains. If necessary, roll down the windows and look to be sure it is safe to proceed through the crossing.

Listen. Often, survivors of train/motor vehicle collisions report they didn't even hear the train. Trains don't always create a lot of noise; there are times when they seem to move with little or no noise at all. It can be very difficult to hear a train when it is coasting or drifting downhill and the wind is blowing from you towards the train. Turn down the sound system in your vehicle when approaching crossings so that you can hear if a train is approaching.

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Source: George Maher, (701) 231-8288
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629