A story attributed to James Jerome Hill, the CEO of the Great Northern Railway, who died in 1916 is once again doing the rounds.

"One of our division superintendents had received numerous complaints that freight trains were in the habit of stopping on a grade crossing in a certain small town, thereby blocking travel for long periods. He issued orders, but still the complaints came in. Finally he decided to investigate personally.

A short man in size and very excitable, he went down to the crossing, and, sure enough, there stood, in defiance of his orders, a long freight train, anchored squarely across it. A brakeman who didn't know him by sight sat complacently on the top of the car.

'Move that train on!' sputtered the little 'super.' 'Get it off the crossing so people can pass. Move on, I say!'

The brakeman surveyed the tempestuous little man from head to foot. 'You go to the deuce, you little shrimp,' he replied. 'You're small enough to crawl under.'"

The moral in this tale is that crawling through a train stopped on a level crossing is as old as the railway.

Topical use of YouTube is the latest weapon in Operation Lifesaver’s campaign arsenal. Just before the Eastern United States was paralysed by a snow storm, Operation Lifesaver released a short film to target those who ride snowmobiles as a leisure pursuit.
 
“As the snow piles up around the country, snowmobile riders are tempted to ride on the ploughed railroad tracks,” said Operation Lifesaver President Helen Sramek.  “This video uses humour to reach this unique audience with an important safety message: “Ride the Trails, Stay Off the Tracks.”
 
The “Snowmobile Fun” video-clip is needed because there have been several near hits and collisions between trains and snowmobile riders.
The snowmobile clip features two riders faced with a choice:  take the snowmobile trails or turn onto the railroad tracks.  The snowman registers a charcoal frown and a safety message.  The two key messages: “Cross tracks at the crossbuck.  Ride the trails, not the rails.”
 
Funding for the spot, which was filmed in Pennsylvania, comes through a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration and the Department of Transportation. The video was produced by Big Picture of Springfield, Virginia.

The “Snowmobile Fun” clip can be found on YouTube at: http://bit.ly/cF8EC2. 

Staying with snow, Operation Lifesaver Canada has released new leaflets for snow-plough drivers. These were distributed at the International Winter Congress held in Quebec City between February 8th and 11th, 2010. Additionally Operation Lifesaver Canada will be making the leaflets available to local authorities for onward individual distribution to snow-plough drivers.

Izhevsk, Russia: Accident prevention campaign underway

Officials of the Gorky Railway working with traffic police and other stakeholders are campaigning hard to reduce the number of level crossings in the railway’s Izhevsk region where there were seven fatalities in level crossing accidents in 2009. In each case these fatal accidents were attributable to motorists who failed to heed the signs and signals provided for their safety.

During 2009, railway officials briefed 9,760 drivers, including 4,500 at level crossings with the balance in workplaces. Many of those briefed admit that they have from time to time violated the rules for the safe use of level crossings – usually because of an anticipated delay. These motorists generally put their time before any real consideration of the risk to themselves, their passengers and those travelling by train.

The reluctance of motorists to heed the rules for the safe use of level crossings is leading to the installation of more rising steps which are raised after the level crossing closure sequence is complete. During 2009 there were four such installations on the rail corridors managed from Izhevsk. Additionally, during 2009 the traffic police began to install photo-enforcement cameras at selected level crossings.