WI OL Statistics

Some national stats that may surprise you:

• Trains have the right of way 100% of the time over emergency vehicles, cars, the police and pedestrians.
• Trains CANNOT stop quickly. The average freight train weighs 6,000 tons, and running at 55 mph takes at least a mile to stop. That’s 18 football fields!
• Approximately every three hours, either a vehicle or a pedestrian is struck by a train in the United States.
• A motorist is 20 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.
• Most crashes occur within 25 miles of the motorist's home.
• The majority of highway-rail crashes occur when the train is traveling less than 30 mph.
• There are approximately 212,000 public, private and pedestrian at-grade highway-rail crossings in the United States.
• Nearly 50 percent of vehicle/train collisions occur at crossings with active warning devices (gates, lights, bells)
• Pedestrian-train incidents are on the rise, and more than 500 people are killed each year. Trespassing on railroad property (tracks, train cars, etc.) is illegal – trespassers are subject to arrest and fines. Too often the penalty is death.

*for updated statistics go to https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety