BLUE EARTH - You're running late, eating breakfast on the way to work or putting on your makeup.
You've rarely seen a train at the crossing you go over every day and ... BAM! Pieces of your car are being picked up hundreds of feet away and you'll be extremely lucky to survive unscathed.
This is exactly the scenario Operation Lifesaver wants to avoid. It is a national organization that works with all railroad companies to reduce the number of train-crossing collisions.
More than a hundred area residents got a chance to ride a train from Blue Earth to just past Guckeen on Thursday, receiving an important safety message.
Don Heddinger, Operation Lifesaver presenter and a Union Pacific conductor from St. James, said Minnesota ranked No. 20 in 2008 for number of collisions.
"Here's where you want to be No. 50," he said.
In 2008, there were 2,373 crossing collisions nationwide, with 286 fatalities.
There also were 458 trespass fatalities. These occur when someone is walking along the rails or on railway property - basically within 50 feet of the tracks.
In Minnesota, there were 55 collisions with six crossing fatalities, plus five trespass fatalities.
Operation Lifesaver has done a lot of good, Heddinger says. When it began in 1972, there were 12,000 collisions nationwide with 1,200 fatalities annually.
Heddinger told passengers that trains overlap the tracks by three feet on each side, so it's important to stop far enough back.
"Before they cross the crossing, they want to look both ways a couple of times," he said. "It isn't rocket science. You look both ways before you cross the street.
"The average train weighs 12 million pounds, while the average car weights 3,000 pounds," he said. "That's a 4,000 to one weight-ratio difference. A good comparison is if you're in your car and you run over a 12-ounce Pepsi can, the car is 4,000 times heavier than that pop can."
Dirk Peterson, manager of operating practices out of Mason City, Iowa, has been with the railroad company for 31 years.
"We don't want people to run the gates; we don't want people to run stop signs," he said.
Peterson has helped run the "safety train" for the past five years and is appreciative of the work Operation Lifesaver does.
As the train moved down the track, indicators for the operators are posted along the way. There are mile markers just like on the highways. There are square yellow signs that indicate when to slow down, and small "x" signs to indicate an upcoming crossing. Peterson said the crossing markers are about a quarter mile before a crossing so operators know when to start blowing whistles and ring bells. The whistle can be heard from about 3,000 feet away.
One general rule Peterson said is common in the industry is: "Expect a train on any track at any time in any direction."
Peterson said all engineers are trained to notify the public as much as possible that a train is coming in order to prevent collisions. With his years of experience, he has seen accidents.
"There's an old saying that even if you tie, you lose," he said. "We hear a lot of gravel flying. It's a scary feeling. We certainly don't want to hurt anybody. ... People are lucky if they walk away from it. That's why we're so diligent with our training of engineers. In the event of a collision, we've done everything we can."
For more information on Operation Lifesaver and more safety tips go to www.oli.org
