Officials to Stress Rail Safety in Wake of Deaths : Transportation: A county commission hopes to educate children and adults in anticipation of more train service.

As Ventura County recorded its sixth fatal train accident this year, transportation officials said they plan to educate the public about train safety in preparation for more rail service through the area.

“As we get more rail service in the county, we are going to have to do a good job of educating people that they cannot walk on the tracks and they will have to obey signals,” said Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

Manuel Petris, 75, of Oxnard died Thursday after he was hit the day before by a Southern Pacific freight train near the Oxnard Transportation Center, officials said.

Petris, who had severe heart problems, might have been resting on the tracks when he fell asleep and lost consciousness, Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said. She said Petris was carrying groceries and may have become fatigued while returning from shopping.

Petris was the third person in two weeks to die after a train accident, and his death marked the sixth train fatality this year, according to the county coroner’s office. Four of the deaths were ruled accidental and two were ruled suicides, Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said. The four accidental deaths compare to 72 traffic fatalities in 1990, and the two suicides are among 73 in the county this year, Stevens said.

Officials of the Ventura County Transportation Commission--now trying to establish commuter rail service linking Ventura and Los Angeles counties by late 1992--said they plan to research ways to teach people train safety.

The commuter service, proposed at four to six trains each way, would be in addition to the two Los Angeles-Santa Barbara Amtrak trains that now run through Ventura County along with the Coast Starlight--the long-distance service that carries Los Angeles-Seattle passengers on the same route. That would mean at least seven passenger trains a day each way through the county.

Also, five or six Southern Pacific freight trains travel the railway along the coast each day, officials said. Occasional freight trains also travel a line from Ventura to Piru.

The commission will look at ways to make auto railway crossings safe and try to get the word out that it is dangerous to walk along the train tracks, Gherardi said. They may develop educational programs for schoolchildren and try to come up with other channels to inform adults of dangers, she said.

Gherardi said she anticipates addressing the safety concerns before the commuter service is in place because of the problems experienced in Los Angeles since the Metro Rail Blue Line began in August.

Transit officials there agreed last month to spend $5.1 million on additional safety measures in an effort to stop a rash of fatal collisions and other accidents along the Long Beach to Los Angeles route.

Plans include working with law enforcement agencies to make rail safety classes mandatory for people caught violating safety rules.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Marty Rouse said he has assigned one of his traffic deputies in Moorpark to attend a Southern Pacific program teaching railroad safety. The deputy will soon be available to teach train education at local schools and to better investigate train-related accidents, Rouse said.

People who do not see trains on a frequent basis, authorities say, could be lulled into a false sense of security and believe it is safe to walk on the tracks.

Stevens, the deputy coroner, said many people involved in train accidents over the past several years also have had high blood-alcohol levels. They were either standing on the tracks and did not feel the train coming or were passed out on the tracks, Stevens said.

Raul Michael Gutierrez, a 33-year-old psychiatric patient, was killed March 29 when he purposely ran from his nearby halfway house in Ventura into the path of an Amtrak passenger train bound for Los Angeles, officials said.

Errol Taylor, a 44-year-old transient, was struck and killed by a westbound train April 12 as he lay on the tracks in a tunnel in the Simi Hills near Santa Susana Pass. His death was ruled accidental, officials said.

A 30-year-old Riverside County man died May 6 when he was hit in Oxnard by an Amtrak train going to Santa Barbara. The death of David Cruz Vargas was ruled accidental, the coroner’s office said.

Hugo Vargas, 19, of Mexico City was killed Dec. 2 in Moorpark. An Amtrak train hit the teen-ager, who had been listening to music through his radio headphones. And Francoise Grosjean, 46, of Camarillo committed suicide Dec. 4 by jumping in front of a freight train in Camarillo, authorities said.