Saturday, July 4, 1998
COLUMBUS -- There were 27 deaths in car-train collisions on Ohio railroad crossings in 1997, more than double the number from the year before, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
And nearly half of those fatalities occurred at crossings equipped with warning lights or gates, PUCO spokesman Dick Kimmins said Thursday.
The PUCO said in a report that in Ohio last year, trains and cars collided at railroad crossings 163 times -- down 7 percent from the year before. In addition to the 27 deaths, there were 47 injuries. So far this year, seven people have died at railroad crossing accidents statewide.
Donald Slemmer, director of Operation Lifesaver, a national public information program, said he's also troubled by the numbers of people killed walking or playing on railroad tracks.
Last year, 523 people were killed that way nationwide, including 30 in Ohio, Mr. Slemmer said. Of the 30 deaths, 18 were ruled accidental; the others were suicides.
Ohio has the nation's fourth largest network of tracks and is ranked fifth in the number of accidents and deaths.
Still, accident figures in recent years are a far cry from levels 10 years ago in Ohio when close to 900 crashes were occurring in a single year, killing up to 50 people.
"We're seeing more rail traffic, more drivers and more vehicles with more potential for disaster," Mr. Slemmer said. "The numbers have been dramatically reduced. Of course we want to see it down to zero."
Craig Glazer, PUCO chairman, credits the drop in fatalities to an increase in the number of protected crossings and efforts to educate new drivers. Of the 6,331 public grade crossings statewide, about one-third have gates and flashers.
There also have been increased efforts to heighten driver awareness, including updating driving schools' curriculum to include rail safety and placing crossing-related questions on new drivers' tests.
"The idea is to start them young and impress upon them the extreme hazards of railroad crossings," Mr. Kimmins said.
State lawmakers also have tightened penalties to include jail time for those who race through crossings when trains are approaching.
The PUCO report shows that the majority of drivers involved in such crashes are male, between the ages of 20 and 39.
About 55 percent of last year's victims didn't stop at the crossing.
