Across the Dakotas, the propensity for both urban and rural exchanges with railroad tracks and trains is greater than one imagines – North Dakota has over 3800 miles of rail track, and South Dakota has over 1800 miles of rail track, impacting 290/142 communities respectively.
STATISTICS
North Dakota highway-rail grade crossing and trespasser incidents
Source: https://railroads.dot.gov/accident-and-incident-reporting/overview-reports/overview-reports
*Thru June 2024
South Dakota highway-rail grade crossing and trespasser incidents
Source: https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Query/gxrtally1.aspx
*Thru June 2024
Share Rail Safety With Loved Ones
- Trespassing along railroad rights-of-way is the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in the United States.
- Highway-rail grade crossing incidents are the second leading cause of rail-related fatalities in America.
- Rail-related incidents among children were most frequent in November.
- 1 in 4 rail-related incidents among children occurred between 3:00 PM and 5:59 PM
- A train can take up to 1 mile to stop. By the time an engineer sees you, there may not be time to stop the train.
- 7 in 10 parents did not recognize “walking on, near, or along train tracks” as trespassing.
- Only 47% of parents have had a conversation with their children about rail safety.
- 71% of parents were not concerned about their teen being hit by a train.
- Between 2013 and 2022, more than 500 children died from rail-related injuries.
- Boys are nearly 3 times as likely than girls to be fatally stuck by a train.
- Every 2 days a child is killed or injured in a train collision.
Source: SafeKids.org
Kevin Brown
State Coordinator
Operation Lifesaver of the Dakotas
dl: (701) 751-6114
ph: (701) 223-6372
tf: (800) 932-8890
