Facts about areas we have visited:
Indiana Facts
Indiana has the 4th highest number of highway-rail grade crossing collisions in the nation.
In 2009, Indiana had 98 highway-rail crossing collisions.
In Indiana, there are many areas called "quiet zones" where train engineers are not allowed to blow the whistle to warn motorists and pedestrians that the train is coming. Be sure to slow down and look both ways at every crossing, every time.
According to a report issued by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General, 94 percent of all grade crossing accidents are caused by risky driver behavior.
It can take a train a full mile or more to brake – even after it has hit something.
That's nearly 18 football fields to stop. Even if he does see someone or something on the tracks, an engineer can't stop in time.
It takes an average train 3-4 minutes to pass through a crossing.
Railroad tracks, bridges, yards and equipment are private property. Walking or playing on them is illegal – trespassers can be arrested and fined.
Some 400 people are injured and 500 killed annually while trespassing on railroad tracks.
A typical train is 7,000 feet and weighs 3,200 tons.
64 percent of all collisions occur in daylight hours.
Nearly half of all highway-rail crashes occur when the train is traveling under 30 mph.
Three of four collisions occur within 25 miles of the driver's home.
Approximately every two hours in the U.S., a collision occurs between a train and either a vehicle or a pedestrian – that's 12 incidents a day.
You are 20 times more likely to die in a collision with a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.
There are approximately 218,000 miles of railroad track in the U.S.
Since 1994, more than 6,500 people have been killed while trespassing on railroad tracks and surrounding property.
One in five people do not know the full meaning of the crossbuck sign (slow down, look, listen).
More people die in highway-rail grade crossing crashes in the U.S. each year than in all commercial and general aviation crashes combined.
Nationally nearly 50 percent of vehicle/train collisions occur at crossings with active warning devices (gates, lights, bells).
Collisions and fatalities at highway/rail grade crossings have declined over the past 30 years by almost 75 percent. In 2008, the number of train/motor vehicle collisions was 2,391 versus 3,502 in 2000. With nearly 150,000 public grade crossings in the U.S., improving grade crossing safety is an important challenge.