Editorial: Look for ways to improve safety near the tracks

Sunday
Jan 7, 2018 at 12:01 AM

It’s difficult to imagine the profound sadness that must have gripped Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd and the faculty, staff and students at the Davenport School for the Arts last week. Upon returning to school after Christmas break, they had to mourn the loss of beautiful little Yazmin White, a sixth-grader at the magnet school.

A speeding Amtrak train struck and killed 11-year-old Yazmin as she crossed the tracks near U.S. 17-92 and Bates Road in Haines City. She was returning home with snacks she had bought at a local store. While walking, she wore ear buds and looked at her cellphone. Sheriff Grady Judd said the conductor blew the train’s whistle for a quarter-mile and slammed on the brakes, but to no avail.

Yazmin never heard nor acknowledged the train, which was traveling almost 70 mph just before the accident.

Remarkably, Yazmin was the fourth pedestrian killed by a train in Polk County within the last nine months. Authorities reported that one of the other three appeared to be a homeless man who fell asleep on the tracks, another may have been a suicide as witnesses said he leaned into the train as it passed, while the circumstances of the third were unknown. A fifth pedestrian, an intoxicated man who also fell asleep on the tracks, was struck back in February and was expected to live, although it was possible he could have lost a limb.

The Federal Railroad Administration reports that roughly 400 pedestrians die each year from being struck by a passing train — the leading cause of death in railroad-related incidents. Florida ranks among the nation’s leaders in this sad category. Based on the FRA’s latest data, we can expect that Yazmin will be one of 27 pedestrians in Florida to die in a train-related incident this year.

The FRA says it has made strides is curtailing casualties. Fatalities along the tracks are down 60 percent over the past two decades. But that largely shows improvements in accidents involving vehicles. Pedestrian fatalities are declining much more slowly, the FRA reports.

The railroads and the FRA view these pedestrians as trespassers, as the victims are crossing the railroads’ private property.

Yet over the past few years, families and friends of those killed in accidents elsewhere have called for more action by the railroads. They cite the work done to make grade crossings safer as the model. Advocates for better safety measures maintain stricter enforcement of trespassing laws might reduce fatalities, as would more barriers like fences or walls or other types of crossing structures, such as footbridges.

The railroads counter that such solutions are impractical — not to mention costly — with 160,000 miles of track traversing the nation. The industry also argues that barriers would do little to stop people, such as potential suicides, who are truly intent on harming themselves.

And they’re right on both counts.

Still, in the wake of Yazmin’s tragic death, it seems we should not just shrug and continue on like nothing happened.

For one thing a public education campaign that advises people to be more vigilant around tracks might help. That would include reminding them to remove headphones in such areas.

On its website, Popular Mechanics has posted a link to an article about Yazmin’s death adjacent to a 2014 article about a similar incident. The article describes how difficult it is to hear trains, even when not wearing headphones, because of physics and the railroads’ modern engineering. “Several hundred tons of metal traveling at fast speeds would seem impossible to go unnoticed, but this false assumption claims lives every year,” Popular Mechanics concluded. “Your best bet? Just don't go near train tracks.” Thus, while it seems improbable, it is entirely possible that Yazmin never heard that locomotive.

Additionally, another approach could be to emulate other communities that have identified problem areas near tracks and worked with government agencies and the railroads to erect barriers or other types of crossings.

That may or may not have helped in Yazmin’s case. But it’s worth a look. After all, given the volume of train traffic passing through Polk County, and after four deaths in less than a year, it seems this issue deserves more attention than it’s getting.

Sunday
Jan 7, 2018 at 12:01 AM

It’s difficult to imagine the profound sadness that must have gripped Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd and the faculty, staff and students at the Davenport School for the Arts last week. Upon returning to school after Christmas break, they had to mourn the loss of beautiful little Yazmin White, a sixth-grader at the magnet school.

A speeding Amtrak train struck and killed 11-year-old Yazmin as she crossed the tracks near U.S. 17-92 and Bates Road in Haines City. She was returning home with snacks she had bought at a local store. While walking, she wore ear buds and looked at her cellphone. Sheriff Grady Judd said the conductor blew the train’s whistle for a quarter-mile and slammed on the brakes, but to no avail.

Yazmin never heard nor acknowledged the train, which was traveling almost 70 mph just before the accident.

Remarkably, Yazmin was the fourth pedestrian killed by a train in Polk County within the last nine months. Authorities reported that one of the other three appeared to be a homeless man who fell asleep on the tracks, another may have been a suicide as witnesses said he leaned into the train as it passed, while the circumstances of the third were unknown. A fifth pedestrian, an intoxicated man who also fell asleep on the tracks, was struck back in February and was expected to live, although it was possible he could have lost a limb.

The Federal Railroad Administration reports that roughly 400 pedestrians die each year from being struck by a passing train — the leading cause of death in railroad-related incidents. Florida ranks among the nation’s leaders in this sad category. Based on the FRA’s latest data, we can expect that Yazmin will be one of 27 pedestrians in Florida to die in a train-related incident this year.

The FRA says it has made strides is curtailing casualties. Fatalities along the tracks are down 60 percent over the past two decades. But that largely shows improvements in accidents involving vehicles. Pedestrian fatalities are declining much more slowly, the FRA reports.

The railroads and the FRA view these pedestrians as trespassers, as the victims are crossing the railroads’ private property.

Yet over the past few years, families and friends of those killed in accidents elsewhere have called for more action by the railroads. They cite the work done to make grade crossings safer as the model. Advocates for better safety measures maintain stricter enforcement of trespassing laws might reduce fatalities, as would more barriers like fences or walls or other types of crossing structures, such as footbridges.

The railroads counter that such solutions are impractical — not to mention costly — with 160,000 miles of track traversing the nation. The industry also argues that barriers would do little to stop people, such as potential suicides, who are truly intent on harming themselves.

And they’re right on both counts.

Still, in the wake of Yazmin’s tragic death, it seems we should not just shrug and continue on like nothing happened.

For one thing a public education campaign that advises people to be more vigilant around tracks might help. That would include reminding them to remove headphones in such areas.

On its website, Popular Mechanics has posted a link to an article about Yazmin’s death adjacent to a 2014 article about a similar incident. The article describes how difficult it is to hear trains, even when not wearing headphones, because of physics and the railroads’ modern engineering. “Several hundred tons of metal traveling at fast speeds would seem impossible to go unnoticed, but this false assumption claims lives every year,” Popular Mechanics concluded. “Your best bet? Just don't go near train tracks.” Thus, while it seems improbable, it is entirely possible that Yazmin never heard that locomotive.

Additionally, another approach could be to emulate other communities that have identified problem areas near tracks and worked with government agencies and the railroads to erect barriers or other types of crossings.

That may or may not have helped in Yazmin’s case. But it’s worth a look. After all, given the volume of train traffic passing through Polk County, and after four deaths in less than a year, it seems this issue deserves more attention than it’s getting.

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