Advertisement

Unprotected Rail Crossings

Share via

* Re “Driver Dies After Train Hits Car at Private Crossing,” Sept. 13.

Your article about the Oxnard man killed at an unprotected railroad crossing has a tragic and all-too-familiar ending. How many people have to die before the railroads will take responsibility for the safety of their crossings?

Typically, the railroad blames the landowner, the motorist, the town or the county for the lack of crossing gates and lights. But the bottom line is that it is their tracks and their trains and so it should be their responsibility!

Nationwide, more than 80% of all railroad crossings are not protected by lights and gates. RailWatch believes it should be the railroads’ responsibility to install adequate crossing guards at those crossings. We must hold the railroads accountable for the safety of their crossings and their operations.

Advertisement

SHERRY KIESLING FOX

Executive Director, RailWatch

Houston, Texas

Advertisement