Ohio
ordered to develop railroad safety plan
State ranks high in accidents
WKSU Online
July 8, 2010
By: K. BHATIA
The Federal Railroad Administration is ordering
Ohio to develop a plan to reduce accidents at railroad crossings.
Vicky Moore, who lost her son in 1995 at an unmarked crossing,
feels the mandate is long overdue.
(Click here to listen)
In 1995, a Conrail freight train smashed into a car crossing
the tracks in rural Stark County. Ryan Moore and two other
teenagers died in the wreck. His parents, Dennis and Vicky,
believe the accident could have been prevented had the crossing
on Deerfield Avenue been marked with gates or warning lights.
So, they established the Angels On Track foundation to help
fund railroad safety upgrades.
Ohio ranks seventh in the nation for
railroad crossing accidents, with 37 fatalities from 2006
to 2008. But Moore notes that less than half of the state’s
6,000 public railroad crossings are gated or lit. Expense
is one factor, since railroads, not governments, determine
the cost of installing safety warning equipment. And federal
funds are awarded on what Moore feels is flawed reasoning.
"Each state has to come up with
an accident prediction formula to choose which crossing gets
gates. And unfortunately, part of that formula that they
use includes fatalities. So only until so many fatalities
happen at a crossing do crossings get gates."
Ohio has until next August to submit a plan to the feds for
solving and identifying railroad crossing problems.
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