Railroad safety officials are seeing a change in the way people and trains are having tragic confrontations. The national railroad safety organization Operation Lifesaver notes rail-crossing collisions have dropped slightly. But pedestrian-train incidents have gone up in the first months of the year–compared to last year’s totals. It’s a national trend and Missouri is part of it.
Federal Railroad Administration figures show more people have been killed while trespassing on tracks than have been killed in vehicle-train collisions at crossings.
The organization’s state coordinator, Rick Mooney, says Missouri is matching the national trend.
Mooney says Operation Lifesaver has a motto it wants people to remember: Stay off; Stay away; Stay alive.
He says Missouri has had seven incidents resulting in four deaths and five injuries in the first seven months of the year. One of the deaths was a woman killed while riding on an ATV that was travelling on some railroad tracks in eastern Missouri just a few days ago.
