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CN police taking rail safety to the streets By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 5 · Thursday, April 29, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com With 256 fatalities and serious injuries taking place on Canada's railway tracks in 2009 CN Police have taken to the streets to try and ensure these grim statistics are not repeated in 2010. CN Police are marking Rail Safety Week, which runs from Monday, April 26 to Sunday, May 2, by taking up positions at 150 rail crossings and commuter stations across Canada and the United States where they will spread awareness about need for greater safety around rail lines. "What we're trying to do is educate motorists about the dangers of the railway," said CN Police Constable Petra Pimenta, who was handing out safety pamphlets at the Kerr Street rail crossing on Monday. "We want to discourage trespassing on the tracks and get people to obey railway signs. This is important because we have approximately 280 accidents at railway crossings across Canada throughout the year. What we try to do is reduce the numbers every single year." Sadly, 2010 is already off to a rough start. · On Jan. 31, a collision between a vehicle and train west of Fort Frances left four people injured. · On Feb. 24, a 41-year-old man received minor injuries when a train hit the snowmobile he was driving near North Bay. · On Feb. 25, a 49-year-old man was seriously injured when a train sideswiped him as he was DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER TRACKING THE DOS AND DON'TS: CN Police Constable Petra Pimenta hands out information pamphlets at the Kerr Street rail crossing to raise awareness of rail safety as part of Rail Safety Week. walking along a railway in Brockville. · On March 9, a 48-year-old man was killed after being struck by a train in North Bay. · On April 13, just two weeks ago, an 18-yearold man was killed while walking along railway tracks in St. Catharines. Investigators in this case say the teen had been wearing an MP3 player and did not hear the train coming behind him. "The most severe thing a (railway) trespasser can do is basically wear headphones or some kind of radio device where they can't hear or they're texting. We've had a lot of fatals that way where they think they will hear the train," said Pimenta. "They never do." Pimenta went on to say that while trespassing on the tracks is a common violation for CN Police to deal with, motorists also make their fair share of dangerous mistakes at railway crossings. "We do have motorists disobeying railway crossing signs. We also have motorists passing through the crossings too quickly when the arms are coming up, which is bad because if another train is coming the arms are going to come right back down on top of that vehicle," said Pimenta. "Both these violations are extremely dangerous because the trains that travel through here, the passenger trains travel at about 120 kilometres per hour. They come very fast and especially in a situation where you've got multi-tracks, you're not going to clear all three tracks in those few seconds." This year, CN Police Chief Stephen Covey has vowed there will be no compromise in the effort to end accidents on the railways with this year's `no compromise: no accidents, no injuries, no fatalities campaign' focusing on tougher enforcement as well as education and prevention. CN is also calling for stiffer provincial penalties for rail safety violations and for the inclusion of rail safety training in driver education --for new drivers, truck drivers and school bus drivers. In Ontario, if a person is caught walking on railway tracks, other than those at designated crossings they could face a provincial fine of $65. If charges are laid under the Railway Safety Act, the trespassing fine is $125. The charge for a vehicle violation at a railway crossing is $110. MAY MADNESS YOUR WINE MAKING ESTABLISHMENT BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE PLUS... on your ne! so make it a good o * EEt oBOTitTthis cS!on, FR firs rder w h LE oup *See store for details. Valid until May 31/10. Open: Mon.-Wed. 12-8, Thurs.-Fri. 11-8, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 11-3 * MAKE YOUR OWN WINE USING THE STATE-OF-THE-ART V VESSEL SYSTEM ines available. ready. Niagara fruit w Get your party wines 905.842.750'S 1144 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE (between Third Line & Fourth Line)