After Spike In Train Accident Deaths, Caltrain Embarks On Safety Education Campaign

A spike in fatalities on train tracks has Caltrain extremely concerned. The agency has launched an intensive safety campaign called Rail Safety Month to raise public awareness about the dangers of walking on the tracks, as well as anti-suicide awareness.

2009 has been a bad year for Caltrain. Although the first four months of the year saw no fatalities involving Caltrain, there have been a total of 10 deaths on the tracks since May 4th. That makes it one death every 12 or 13 days. Many of these deaths are suicides, but Caltrain is very concerned about the deaths that have occurred as pedestrians were struck by trains as they walked along the tracks. At least three teenagers from Palo Alto have committed suicide on the tracks since the first fatality occurred May in this year. The agency is therefore, accelerating its track safety and suicide prevention campaign.

There are indications that Caltrain is taking these measures very seriously indeed. The Discovery Channel show "Dirty Jobs" could be at the receiving end of the agency's ire. The show, in its episode on building locomotives, features a scene in which the host Mike Rowe is seen walking on the tracks. This may seem innocuous enough, but Caltrain believes that images like this that show well known media personalities walking on the tracks, sends the wrong message to teenagers and other pedestrians that it is OK to walk on the tracks. Caltrain is looking to send a strong message to the public that it is never OK to be loitering or strolling on or near the tracks.

The agency and California train accident attorneys are especially concerned about residents who live close to the 78-mile stretch of track. According to John Cockle, who is the agency's rail operations manager, the tracks are not a public place that residents who live nearby can use for jogging and strolling. In fact, trespassers who enter the tracks or the space on either side, will be cited. According to the San Mateo County Sheriffs Office Transit Police Bureau, they have already cited 500 trespassers this year alone. Transit police have also saved at least 13 other people in 2009, pulling them off the tracks in time.

Caltrain executive officer for public affairs, Mark Simon, has called for police and engineers in each city to identify suicide hot spots along the tracks. Most of the ten deaths that have occurred this year have been suicides. Simon is also cooperating with a task force of school officials and mental health experts, whose job is to look into teen suicide prevention.

This awareness campaign is not the first that Caltrain has undertaken. Since 2006, the agency has reached out to thousands of residents doing safety presentations to prevent accidents. Every year during fall, Caltrain officials are available for presentations to local schools. However, officials say that response from the local school districts has not been as strong as it should have been, considering that three teenagers in Palo Alto committed suicide on the tracks.

Officials stress the following points to avoid becoming a train accident casualty:

Avoid walking on the tracks.
Make sure that you are standing behind the yellow line.
Never cut across rail lines.