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Pastor talks railroad safety with FS students
By Rayma Silvers
The Fort Scott Tribune
Local pastor Reed Hartford recently taught the students at Eugene Ware Elementary School how to "Look, Listen and Live."
As part of their physical education safety unit, the students learned how to stay safe around railroad tracks. Hartford explained to the students the importance of following specific rules to make sure they are protected from trains that are passing by.
After discussing some of the rules with the children, Hartford cautioned the students against breaking any of the safety guidelines.
To drive his point home, Hartford briefly explained to the students about a motorist who was stopped at a railroad crossing fully equipped with gates and flashing red lights. After the train passed through the crossing, the gates stayed down and the lights continued to flash. Becoming impatient, the motorist drove around the gates. Unfortunately, before the vehicle could make it to the other side of the tracks, a second train smashed into the automobile.
"We need to pay attention," Hartford said. "As long as the lights are flashing and the bell is ringing, it is against the law to go around."
Although the train conductor will try to stop the locomotive if something is in the middle of the track, it is unlikely he or she will be able to halt the train in time. According to Hartford, if a train is driving 55 miles per hour, it will take one mile for the train to come to a complete stop.
According to Kansas Operation Lifesaver, www.ksoli.org, almost 50 percent of the crashes that occur on a railroad crossing happen at a crossing equipped with automatic warning devices.
KSOLI, a non-profit international public education program created in 1972 to put an end to crashes, deaths and injuries which occur on railroad crossings, said that every two hours in the United States there is a collision between a train and a vehicle or a train and a pedestrian. It is more likely a person will die in a collision with a train than as a result of a car wreck, the Web site said. Knowing and following certain safety procedures can save lives, according to the Web site.
It is important for automobiles as well as pedestrians to look both ways before crossing a railroad crossing, the KSOLI Web site said. If a vehicle stalls while driving over a railroad crossing, everyone should get out of the vehicle immediately and move far away from the tracks even if there is no train in sight. Next, it is important to inform local law enforcement of the situation and wait for them to respond, according to the Web site.
In 2007, there were 57 crashes involving trains in Kansas. There were nine fatalities that resulted from those crashes.
Hartford's presentation taught the students several important strategies for staying safe around trains. Summing up the information he gave the students, Hartford and the students shouted, "Stay off. Stay away. Stay alive."