How do you stay safe on train tracks?

Never walk, bike, skateboard or run on or along the tracks; it's illegal and dangerous. Cross only at designated rail crossings. Hold hands: Hold hands with smaller children while at stations and crossings. Just wait: Don't ever try to “beat” a train.



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Railroad tracks are private property, not public trails. It's illegal to walk on the tracks unless you're at a designated crossing. It's extremely dangerous to walk, run, or drive down the railroad tracks or even alongside them.

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The middle of the train is by far the safest for persons. The National Transportation Safety Board does not release comprehensive data on where victims were sitting during fatal train accidents, though some details are available in individual investigative reports.

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A train can extend three or more feet on either side of the steel rail, so the safe zone for pedestrians is well beyond three feet on either side. And when vehicles are stopped at a designated crossing, they should remain 15 feet or more from a rail.

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Wait until you can see clearly around the first train in both directions. Never walk around or behind lowered gates at a crossing. Do not cross the tracks until the lights have stopped flashing and it is safe to do so. You can be fined for failure to obey these signals.

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Some drivers out there believe that you should lift your feet up when crossing over railroad tracks. There are several motivations behind this, like if you don't you'll never get married, or die young, or lose the person you're in a relationship with.

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What happens if you stand too close to a train? Air between person and the train moves with high velocity due to dragging effect and the air behind person is approximately still.

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That's because the noise a train makes is mainly projected to either side. When trains are moving directly towards you they are barely audible–until it's too late.” He adds: “It's surprisingly easy to overload the brain to the point where it can't triangulate where sound is coming from.”

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It IS good to slow down before you go over a rough surface like railroad tracks. But not because you'll hurt the brakes. You should slow down before railroad tracks so that you go slowly OVER the railroad tracks.

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Never walk on tracks; it is illegal to trespass and highly dangerous. By the time a locomotive engineer sees a trespasser or vehicle on the tracks it's too late. It can take a mile or more to stop a train.

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Fact #4: Trains Can Stop, But Not Quickly It takes the average freight train traveling at 55 mph more than a mile to stop. That's the length of 18 football fields.

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Slow Down Firstly, you should slow down when approaching a railroad grade crossing. You must look around for clues that a train is on its way. Of course, you have built-in signals at the crossing. Most tracks come with lights and perhaps a bell to let you know that you have to stop.

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While modern trains won't litter the tracks with human excrement, the traditional method did just that. This is what was known as a hopper toilet. It could either be a simple hole in the floor (also known as a drop chute toilet) or a full-flush system.

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While crossing a railroad (or a speed bump), you need to slow down, mainly to negotiate the uneven surface. Essentially, you take your foot off the accelerator and put it on the brake pedal.

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The reason that trains honk their horns so much at night is because it's dark and the trains aren't so easy to see. Even though the lights are on, we sometimes can't see them coming, especially around the many blind curves near or ahead of the train station.

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