Worthy
Cause Gains Wings
The Daily Record
June 14, 1999
by: Lisa Watts
Vicky and Denny
Moore never meant to become experts on railroad safety, county
government or state utility regulations.
"My husband
and I are just normal people. We didn't know how government
works," Vicky Moore said.
That all changed
for the Canal Fulton couple on March 25, 1995, the day their
son Ryan, 16, was thrown from a car at a railroad crossing
on the Wayne-Stark county line.
Six teenagers were
in the car.
Three of them, including
Ryan, died. Their older son, Jason, now 22, was driving.
He walks today with a steel bar in one leg from his hip to
his knee.
Vicky Moore also
never meant to head up a multi-million dollar foundation,
but that's what she is doing with the almost $6 million her
family was awarded, after attorney fees, from a civil suit
against the railroad.
The Angels on Track
Foundation works to help counties in Ohio pay their part
of matching funds to install more safety gates and lights
at dangerous railroad crossings.
Recently the Moores'
foundation supplied the local funding--more than $60,000--for
upgrades at three crossings in Wayne County. That work-scheduled
for Geyers Chapel, Eby and Back Orrville roads-should be
completed by May 2000.
Vicky Moore said
her family never thought twice about where their millions
should go.
"The money
didn't mean anything to my husband or me---there wasn't anything
we could buy with that money that would make us feel better
about losing Ryan," she said.
"You
can only sue for money. You can't sue for an apology, or
to make it right."
The foundation's
support, though, may make things right for future generations
of drivers across the state.
Because Ohio has
served as a national hub for rail lines east and west, north
and south, the state has a large number of crossing--6,500--concentrated
within its borders.
Wayne
County alone has 102 crossings,
"an amazing number," Commissioner Cheryl Noah said.
She heads the county's railroad safety task force.
The state once ranked
near the top in railroad crossing fatalities, but those numbers
have dropped steadily in the last 10 years, said Rob Marvin,
chief of the railroad division of the Public Utilities Commission
of Ohio.
"Ten years
ago, 64 people were killed, There were 14 last year," Marvin
said, two of those in Wayne County.
As the Moores well
know, though, one death is tragedy enough.
Beginning her research
after Ryan's accident, Vicky Moore learned that her son was
one of eight people killed in seven years at the Deerfield
Avenue crossing. The only warning: the state's wooden, yellow
and black crossbuck sign.
The state and federal
government already had recognized that crossing as dangerous
by putting it on a priority list. Eight months after Ryan's
accident, the railroad installed safety gates and lights
there.
Of the state's 6,500
crossings, almost half are marked with crossbuck signs, Moore
said.
"In our minds,
all crossings should have gates and lights, an active warning
system," she said.
The hitch is the
cost. Installing safety gates and lights typically costs
between $100,000 and $120,000, Marvin said.
The train-activated
lights and gates are funded in two ways. Under a federal
program funded by highway taxes, Ohio receives close to $100,000
each month to upgrade as many crossings as possible from
a prioritized list.
That work is done
at no cost to local highway authorities or the state, but
local groups don't have a say in which crossings are upgraded.
The prority list
is based on a formula that looks at traffic counts, fatalities,
angle of approach and other such factors.
The state offers
a second program based on matching funds fromlocal communities.
County task forces that identify crossings of particular
concern can ask PUCO for funding assistance. The local highway
authority and PUCO split 90 percent of the cost, and the
railroads are asked to chip in 10 percent.
Under the state
program, about 15 crossings are upgraded each year, Marvin
said.
"But $45,500,
$50,000 is still a lost of money for townships and small
municipalities," he said. "Vicky's foundation helps
by picking up the local share of the costs."
The Moores read
about the Wayne County task force forming and attended monthly
meetings for about a year. The group includes Noah, county
emergency management director Ralph Linsalata, representatives
from the Wooster Post of the State Highway Patrol and the
sheriff's office, an Ohio Deparment of Transportation representative
and concerned citizens.
After reading about
the local task force, the Moores started a similar group
in Stark County. They also have consulted with a number of
other counties, including Delaware and Carroll, to get more
task forces up and running.
Moore, Marvin, and
Noah all said they are making great headway in making railroad
crossings safer.
In the last 10 years,
some 1,000 crossings across Ohio have received gates.
But Moore said she
finds her work depressing. The railroads, not concerned communities,
should be paying for the safety equipment, she said.
"The railroad
companies say it's not their responsibility. But if they
want to have commerce through our communities, they should
protect us from their trains," she said. "Look
at the automakers--we made them install airbags and steel
beams to protect us. Why don't they make railroad companies
do the same thing?"
From the railroad
company perspective, said Marvin, federal officials have
deemed safety gates and other warning systems as highway
devices to protect drivers, not rail equipment to protect
the trains.
"The railroad
to their credit, don't have to participate in our state program
at all. Their 10 percent contribution is a voluntary program,
but we've never had a railroad say "no".
Half of all fatalities
occur at crossing with gates and lights, Marvin notes, so
active warning devices alone don't ensure safety.
Noah knows those
statistics, too.
"I'm not trying
to protect the railroads," she said, "but the majority
of crossing accidents are driver created. In most instances,
poor decisions were made by the driver."
Noah said she was
appalled last year when her task force was invited to ride
a train from Wayne County to Alliance.
"Honestly,
I thought they staged these things,that they paid people
to drive around the gates and barriers,"
she said of watching people trying to dodge the warning system.
"I
would hate to be an engineer out there."
"It's like
what we have now (the gates and lights) are so common-place,
drivers see them like traffic lights, just an impediment
to where they want to be going," Noah said.
Moore, though, is
adamant that the railroad companies need to take more responsibility.
Her days are full
of lobbying efforts, talking to the media and meeting with
local groups. It might seem glamorous work for the former
director of a senior center, but she doesn't relish the role.
"This isn't
fun. It's not something my husband or I enjoy," she
said. "It's a constant reminder of what happened to
my son."
"I
get depressed, because I don't think we as local communities
should have to do this. When we do see gates and lights
installed, maybe that will feel better. It's the only thing
we can do for Ryan."
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