Locomotive engineers are victims too

[Knothead]

OAKLAND, N.J. -- Ken Michel shuddered when he heard about the grisly deaths of the bridegroom-to-be and his companion. Both men were killed Monday when a Susquehanna & Western locomotive rammed their landscaping truck at an Oakland railroad crossing.

By now, somewhere in Washington, D.C., an entry in a Federal Railroad Administration safety log marks this event in dry numerals:

But Michel knows the math is incomplete.

"The two guys in the truck weren't the only victims," he said. "You've got to count the engineer and the conductors, too."

A CSX Corp. train engineer for 32 years, Michel speaks from bitter experience. From January to June 1980, he was at the helm when his train was involved in six vehicular or pedestrian accidents -- three within two weeks.

"Almost all were fatal," he recalled. "It's like somebody put a gun in your hand and forced you to pull the trigger. You have no control, yet you're the one who did it."

The engineer, New Jersey legislative chairman for the 800-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, suffers from the same post-traumatic stress disorder endured by war veterans. In one case in Newark, he remembers seeing the face of the victim as the man walked across the tracks.

"Just before I hit him, he turned and looked at me," he said. "It doesn't take much to bring these memories back."

He recalled a colleague who was constantly reminded of his crash every time he passed the accident site because "nobody removed the bumper of the car from the side of the track."

Michel estimates that engineers and crew members see a crash every 18 to 24 months, usually at crossings. This is the sort of unofficial statistic that is seldom mentioned in discussions of rail-crossing fatalities. They're considered rare events when counted in fatalities per million train miles. By this measure, deaths fell 3.5 percent last year. Safety experts blame driver or pedestrian misjudgment for the great majority of these crashes -- not engineers.

Monday's deaths of Philip Salvatoriello and Anthony Cuccio marked the first in 33 years at the un-gated Edison Avenue crossing in Oakland. They were the third and fourth rail fatalities in Bergen County since 2003. It also was the first day on the job for Cuccio, 25, who was engaged to be married. Police say Salvatoriello, the 22-year-old driver, saw the oncoming locomotive, but gunned the truck in an effort to beat the train to the crossing.
"Most trains need more than a mile to stop if traveling 60 mph or more," according to the New Jersey Driver Manual published by the state Motor Vehicle Commission.

It's a statistic that engineers know well. "But many drivers don't know it," said Michel.
He knows this from grim observation. His work site is a North Bergen rail yard where five sets of tracks cross 69th Street between Tonnelle and West Side avenues. When a train approaches, bells ring, lights flash and gates drop on either side of the tracks. The distance between the gates is nearly 200 feet.

"People late for work or an appointment sometimes cross after the gates go down," he said.

He has seen enough close calls and turned faces to haunt his waking hours. "I see cars flying by with kids in the back with eyes as big as saucers," he said.

Why would a driver, especially a parent, take such a huge chance? Michel, an active member of a rail and law-enforcement safety group called Operation Lifesaver, has two theories.

"Many of the trains that drivers see are going 2 to 10 miles an hour on local switching tracks," he said, "so they're sure they can get across in time. But two of the tracks carry main-line, 40-mile-an-hour trains."

A motorist might beat the local, but disaster awaits if the slow-moving train obscures the advance of a much faster locomotive, he said. "Many people who cross multiple tracks don't have a clue about what's going on at a crossing," he said.

Which brings him to his second theory: "Drivers need more training about crossings."
Each of the four 50-question driving tests given by the MVC includes one rail safety question. The 104-page manual contains four paragraphs on the subject. Michel says the MVC should do more to train drivers "who are in too big a hurry to be inconvenienced by approaching trains."

For example, he believes the agency should emphasize real-life road conditions by asking about a situation he often sees: What do you do if a gate descends while you're crossing a track?

Signs at rail grades offer the answer: "Do Not Stop At Crossing." So does the driver's manual: "Always finish crossing railroad tracks. Do not stop."

"But I still see drivers slow down and stop," said Michel.

They cover all demographics.

"They're young drivers and old drivers," said the engineer. "They're experienced drivers with commercial licenses. And they're from every ethnic background."

Michel has even seen violations of 39:4-128, the motor vehicle statute requiring drivers of commercial buses, school buses and tractor-trailers carrying flammable material to stop at all rail crossings before proceeding.

What needs to be done?

The veteran engineer suggests stronger high school driver education, more emphasis on grade crossings in the manual and public service messages and a speaker's bureau to take the message to young people and their parents.

Yes, grade-crossing fatalities are falling without all this. But as long as preventable deaths continue, why not listen to a guy with a front-row seat to recklessness, carelessness and ignorance?