Children Are Focus of Rail Safety Drive

Every weekday afternoon, children play behind Valerio Street Elementary School in Van Nuys, running along, darting across and throwing rocks over the railroad tracks, said parent Vaneza Vera, who walks her 7-year-old son home.

Although she is concerned for the youngsters’ safety, she cannot be every child’s parent, she said.

“They are not going straight to [their homes], looking both [ways] or listening for the train,” Vera said. “It’s very dangerous and very unsafe. Those parents who are working, they trust their kids. But there’s no way to trust the kids--they’re just kids.”

With about 50 Los Angeles County schools within five blocks of the Blue Line train tracks, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is launching a countywide campaign today aimed at spreading the message to schoolchildren that playing near tracks is dangerous.

Railroad safety experts will speak at schools and organize poster and essay contests. Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player Mauricio Cienfuegos is the campaign spokesman.

“Our function here is to try to put an end to all train accidents,” said Abdul Zohbi, manager of system safety for the MTA. “If we manage to save the life of one child, then our goal is met. One incident is one incident too many.”

The campaign is to kick off at 2:45 p.m. with Cienfuegos and MTA officials on the median between Markham Middle School in Watts and the tracks. Markham was targeted because the MTA received reports that children were playing chicken on the tracks after school, said Rich Morallo, assistant communications manager for the MTA.

Markham Principal Elizabeth Norris said that the school tries to supervise the tracks but that monitors cannot be there all the time.

“Children tend to want to take shortcuts, but that’s dangerous,” she said. “When you have that much track unprotected, without a barrier, it’s very difficult.”

Elizabeth Diaz, a parent who always walks her two children home from Florence Avenue School in South-Central Los Angeles, said she is disturbed by what she sees.

“They run along the tracks and push each other onto the tracks,” she said. “Sometimes they hear the horn when the train is coming, and they still play. Sometimes they wait for the train to come, and then they start running.”

The MTA is not the only rail agency concerned with child safety. Metrolink, which runs trains in Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties, visits hundreds of schools each year to promote railroad safety, said spokeswoman Claudia Keith. There are 1,500 places where Metrolink tracks are within two miles of schools.

This year, Metrolink safety officials are targeting schools in Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Covina, Santa Ana, Irvine, Rialto and Fontana, said Edward Pederson, manager of safety and security.

“We try to go to those areas that have a need,” Pederson said. “We’ve had reports from train crews about kids throwing rocks at trains, rock piles being put on tracks or shopping carts full of debris put on rails.”

On March 12, police received reports that high school students were sawing down fences so they could drive their all-terrain vehicles along tracks in the Fontana area, he said.

“Normally, I would say middle school kids have a tendency to play on the right of way. . . . The boys are full of bravado; they think they know everything,” he said. “But, frankly, sometimes the high school students do pretty dumb things too.”

Metrolink representatives hold assemblies and visit classrooms to talk about trespassing and safe crossing. To get the point across, they show a video featuring a boy who lost his leg and a mother whose son was killed when he was playing on tracks.

“They put themselves in jeopardy,” Pederson said. “They’re doing something illegal. We’re afraid they’re going to put themselves in harm’s way.”

California leads the nation in trespassing fatalities. There were 86 railroad trespassing fatalities in the state in 1999, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety Analysis.

Greg Berumen, senior communications officer for the MTA, helped organize the Blue Line rail safety campaign because he said kids need to understand “never to use tracks as a shortcut. Shortcuts can shorten your life.”

And “Don’t be dead wrong,” he said. “You can’t beat the train.”