Oregon railroad crossing crashes nearly double in 5 years, reasons unclear

Railroad crossing crashes in Oregon have nearly doubled since 2013. 

But because such accidents are relatively rare compared to highway crashes, the increase has largely flown under the radar outside of transportation circles. 

Oregon had 19 rail crossing accidents in 2018, up from 10 in 2013.

And Marion County had the most among Oregon counties, logging 28 railroad crossing crashes since 2008, according to an analysis by the Statesman Journal. 

That's 18 percent of Oregon's 154 railroad crashes since 2008. 

They unfold in a variety of circumstances: Drivers attempting to get around closing gates; pedestrians walking across tracks; bicyclists failing to yield.

The annual statistics may not sound like much, but the number of victims since 2008 adds up.

Thirty-five people were killed.

Thirty-six people were injured.

There's no simple explanation for the increase. State transportation officials and safety advocates say a variety of factors are at play: Oregon's growing population; people's unfamiliarity with their new surroundings; and the popularity of pedestrian and bicycle travel. 

Officials say the increase in accidents underscores the need for Oregonians to pay closer attention as they navigate the state's nearly 4,000 railroad crossings.

"The vast majority of the incidents were poor judgment and poor decisions on the road users' part," said Rick Shankle, manager of the crossing safety section at the Oregon Department of Transportation's rail division.

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Railroad crossing safety 

Oregon Department of Transportation officials have put together a plan intended to address the issue and reduce the number of crossing incidents.

It's called the Oregon Highway-Railroad Crossing Safety Action Plan. The 139-page document, released this summer, lays out steps for the state to improve railroad crossing safety. It's a first for Oregon, coming because of additional federal requirements for states from the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015. 

The state's plan also examines a decade's worth of railroad crossing crashes, from 2008-2017. 

Oregon's transportation agency regulates railroad crossings and works with local road authorities and railroads to plan crossing configurations.

"People don't understand the risk," said Roseann O'Laughlin, a principal planner with the agency. "They're either complacent or don't understand the real risk."

Circumstances can sometimes be unusual. In Eugene, a woman was hit by a train and killed in 2014 while chasing a dog off the tracks. In a 2018 incident, a man was hit by a train and injured in Portland while chasing his girlfriend on foot, state data show. 

"These are adults who should know better," she said. "They're not young kids."

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Policy decisions for railroad safety aren't always easy or simple. For example, cities can request  "quiet zones" in designated areas where trains cannot blow whistles.

Salem has a quiet zone at 12 crossings of the Union Pacific Railroad line stretching from Mill Street Southeast to Silverton Road Northeast. 

The Federal Railroad Administration is required to sign off on plans for the quiet zones, which typically require additional signage warning drivers and pedestrians. But Union Pacific opposes quiet zones as a matter of policy, saying they endanger public safety. 

Other factors in play include Oregonians' heavy use of different modes of transportation, including walking and biking. 

Out of the 154 crashes over the past 10 years, 33 involved pedestrians and nine involved someone hit on a bicycle. Of those, six pedestrians and one bicyclist were in Marion County. 

"Particularly in Salem proper, as opposed to Marion County as a whole, you've got the UP (Union Pacific) main line running in a very congested area with a lot of cars, a lot of pedestrians, so the risk is going to go up," said Claudia Howells, former head of the transportation department's rail division and a volunteer with Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit that educates the public about railroad safety in Oregon. 

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Education and outreach 

A state analysis of 120 railroad crossing accidents found that more than half — 65 crossings — already were equipped with active equipment to warn highway users of trains. 

"You don't actually want to signalize every crossing," Howells said. "That would be like putting a traffic signal at every traffic intersection."

Instead, goals in the state's crossing safety plan includes a combination of education and outreach, increased data collection — including when trains have "near misses" at intersections — and looking for more funding options for crossing equipment.

ODOT's rail division, which regulates crossings in Oregon, has limited staff for doing outreach. So it partners with Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit that gives presentations at schools, fairs and other venues to raise awareness. 

Steven Kreins, the volunteer executive director of Operation Lifesaver, said group did about 200 presentations in 2018 and has reached nearly 24,000 people. They also work with other groups, such as bus drivers and police officers. 

Krein said the group's education efforts include not only crossing safety, but also outreach about trespassing — walking on or near railroad tracks. 

"I don't think a lot of people even understand it's illegal," he said. 

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Family searches for answers

Jack Rice was bicycling on State Street in Salem when he crossed the railroad tracks at 12th Street. It was Aug. 30, 2018.

An Amtrak train slammed into him. Witnesses told police that Rice — a 42-year-old who recently moved to the area and planned to attend Chemeketa Community College — flew through the air across State Street.

He died instantly.

The Amtrak engineer told police the train was traveling southbound at about 34 mph, within the designated speed for downtown Salem. It also was in Salem's quiet zone.

"The train is much wider and he didn't realize he was even in the way of the train," said Rice's mother, Shirley Irwin. "The law in Salem is the train's not supposed to make a whistle noise."

As a result, the Amtrak train wasn't blowing its whistle — not until the engineer saw Rice approaching the tracks and he pulled the whistle as an emergency warning. 

Rice didn't seem to notice.

He appeared to stop on the tracks, looking forward but never over at the train, according to witnesses. Based on that, the engineer told police it appeared Rice thought he wasn't on the tracks. 

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His sister, Jessica Rice of Nashville, Tenn., said the family doesn't know exactly how events unfolded. But she said the crossing has the potential for danger, given it's in a quiet zone and it crosses such a busy street. 

"We do have large concerns that nothing is going to be changed and we don't want this happening to any other family," she said. "Anything we can do to create awareness around it and how it can be changed is definitely what we want."

Ben Botkin covers Oregon state government. You can reach him at bbotkin@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6687 or follow him on Twitter @BenBotkin1