NORTH CAROLINA -- “All the injuries and deaths we see at railroad crossings are preventable if motorists would respect the railroad crossing,” said Roger Smock, who coordinates NCDOT’s (N.C. Department of Transportation) BeRailSafe program.
That’s exactly why the agency staged and recorded a simulation with a remote-controlled car trying to beat a train at a railroad crossing.
The simulation took place in Montgomery County with the test car containing crash dummies and sensors to record data.
As expected, the car didn't make it over the crossing before it was totally smashed.
“It’s our hope, that by showing the impact that occurs when a vehicle attempts to race a locomotive to a crossing, drivers will think twice when approaching railroad tracks. Trains cannot stop quickly, and for this reason, they have the right-of-way over all highway traffic, including emergency vehicles.”
People may not realize it, but it takes a train traveling at 55 mph more than a mile just to stop!
Already this year, there have been 21 crossing crashes, with five being fatal and six causing injury.
In 2017, there were 48 crashes at crossings resulting in 9 fatalities and 17 injuries.
NCDOT hopes the simulation, the first of its kind in North Carolina, will educate drivers and reduce the number of fatal collisions at railroad crossings.
Click here for additional railroad crossing safety tips!
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