Garland resident injured in collision with train

A Bourbon County man learned first hand the dangers that await motorists who do not yield to oncoming locomotives.

According to a Crawford County press release, on Sept. 1, at 11:58 a.m. the Crawford County Sheriff's Office received a report of a train verses car injuring accident at the intersection of Arcadia Street and the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks located on the west side of Arcadia. The accident occurred when a 1992 Ford Escort station wagon driven by Robert Byington, 90, of Garland was west bound on Arcadia Street and failed to stop at the crossing. The train struck the vehicle launching it into the south ditch along the railroad track right-of-way. The driver was taken to Mercy Hospital, Fort Scott, for medical care as the he had received incapacitating injuries during the collision. Units from the Crawford County Sheriff's Office, Arcadia Fire Department and Crawford County EMS responded to the accident, which is still under investigation.

According to Federal Railroad Administration statistics, www.oli.org, 2,728 highway-rail grade crossing collisions occurred in 2007 throughout the United States. In 2007, Kansas experienced 57 train verses vehicle crashes, resulting in 18 injuries and nine fatalities. The most vehicle-train collisions occurring that year, took place in Texas, which saw 294 of these crashes, resulting in 34 fatalities. California and Indiana tied for the second most train-vehicle crashes in 2007, with each experiencing 161 collisions.

More than 30 years ago, a non-profit organization was formed to help end collisions, deaths and injuries that occur at railroad crossings, according to Operation Lifesaver.

"In 1972, when Operation Lifesaver began, there were approximately 12,000 collisions between trains and motor vehicles annually," Operation Lifesaver said.

By 2006, the number of these collisions had been reduced by about 76 percent, according to Operation Lifesaver. However, the number of collisions remain alarmingly high. According to Operation Lifesaver, a person or vehicle collides with a train approximately every two hours in the United States, and about half of these collisions occur at a highway-rail intersection, which is equipped with flashing lights and or gates. Adding that the weight of a train far exceeds that of any automobile, increasing the dangers involved with such a collision.

"A typical locomotive weighs approximately 400,000 pounds or 200 tons," Operation Lifesaver said. "When 100 railcars are added to the locomotive, the train can weigh approximately 6,000 tons. The weight ratio of an automobile to a train is proportional to a soda can and an automobile."

For more information about Operation Lifesaver or for important train related safety tips access the Operation Lifesaver Web site, www.oli.org.