LAWS SPOTLIGHT DANGERS POSED BY RAILROAD CROSSINGS

Drivers who try to beat lowered railroad crossing gates face stiff penalties in Missouri and Illinois.

The fine in Missouri can range from $50 to $500 and up to a week's stay in jail.

It's tougher in Illinois -- a "mandatory" fine of $500 or 50 hours of community service work.

Supporters of these laws hope the penalties will offer drivers incentives to be more careful.

Statistics released last week show that motorists did not stop in 59 percent of the fatal railroad grade crossing accidents that left 21 dead and 45 injured in Missouri last year. In almost 10 percent (9.7) of the cases, vehicles drove by the gates in attempts to beat the train.

The majority of the 42 fatalities recorded at Illinois railroad crossings in 1995 took place at intersections marked with gates, flashing lights or other active warning signals.

The new Illinois penalties for going around lowered gates went into effect in January.

"I hope these new penalties will make more Illinoisans think twice before getting into a race with an oncoming train," Secretary of State George Ryan said. "Anytime someone, whether a motorist or a pedestrian decides to try to beat a train, they're putting lots of lives on the line."

"People need to be reminded of the dangers of railroad crossings," said Richard L. Graviett of the Burlington Northern Railroad and a member of Missouri's Operation Lifesaver program. "People tend to get a little lax."

Graviett, a Chaffee resident, and other area Operation Lifesaver members were handing out safety information last week at a crossing on South Sprigg Street.

"There's a lot of traffic at this crossing which leads to a waste facility," said Graviett. "In one morning, we talked to 75 different people. That translates into 150 movements across the tracks. We've had some near misses here."

Graviett and his crew will be passing out safety material at other locations in Cape Girardeau, including the Lacruz Street crossing, which leads to a grain elevator.

"During the grain season, a lot of trucks go across the tracks," said Graviett. The Lacruz Street crossing was the site of a collision which derailed a train and injured an engineer last fall.

Highway-rail grade crossing collisions declined in Missouri in 1995. But fatals were up more than 60 percent from 1994 totals.

Safety statistics released this week by the Missouri Division of Transportation's Office of Railroad Safety showed that 103 train-vehicle crashes resulted in 21 fatalities.

"Statistics provide vivid proof of the severity involved when highway vehicles collide with trains," said Rick Mooney, coordinator of the Operation Lifesaver program in Missouri.

A vehicle driver is 30 times more likely to be killed in a car-train collision than in a car-car collision, noted Mooney. "We also refer to 4,000 to 1 odds," he said, explaining that an average train weighs 4,000 times more than an average car.

The train weighs about 12 million tons, a car about 3,000 pounds. If the train is loaded, the weight will more than double.

In 1995, one fatality occurred in every 170 motor vehicle collisions, while one fatality occurred in every five grade crossing collision.

The 103 accidents were down 7 percent from the 1994 total of 111 accidents, but the fatality rate was up more than 40 percent from the 12 deaths from 1994.

Sixteen collisions resulted in the 21 deaths last year. Six of the fatal accidents, which accounted for eight deaths, occurred at crossings equipped with "active" warning devices -- those with such devices as flashing lights, flashing lights and gates, highway traffic signals or a trainman flagging the crossing.

The MODOT report did not reflect collisions between motor vehicles and trains at private crossings. There were 15 such incidents in 1995, resulting in six non-fatal injuries.

Additionally, there was one reported collision involving a pedestrian last year, resulting in a fatality. Also reported were 11 trespasser incidents, which resulted in nine fatalities and two injuries.

One pedestrian death and two traffic fatalities already have been reported in the immediate Southeast Missouri area this year.

As many as 50 crossings will be upgraded in 1996, Mooney said.

One track crossing scheduled for an upgrade this year is the Shelby Street railroad crossing at Oran, the site of a double-fatal accident last month. Flashing lights and gates should be in place at Oran within 18 months.

Over the past decade, the number of crossings in Missouri has decreased by 315, or 7.2 percent. Track abandonments are the primary reason for the decrease.

Thirty-six percent, or 1,559 of all public grade crossings in Missouri, are now equipped with active warning devices.

Illinois has more than twice that many crossings, with more than 9,000, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission. Some 262 accidents and 42 deaths were reported in Illinois last year. The accident total was down 284 accidents in 1994, but fatalities were up from 36 in 1994.

Statistics show that in 76 percent of Missouri train-vehicle collisions, the train struck the vehicle as the vehicle was crossing the track. In all other cases, vehicles ran into the side of the train.

Statistics reveal that motorists did not stop in 59 percent of the cases, and in almost 10 percent (9.7) of cases vehicles drove by the gates in attempts to beat the train. Sixty-six percent of accidents occurred during the day in clear weather.