On average, there's more than one Caltrain-related death per month.
In November, a man was killed at the Charleston Avenue crossing in Palo Alto in a suspected suicide. June 2011 saw the death of a person in Burlingame with 900 people aboard the train at the time. In 2011, there was a total of 16 Caltrain deaths.
Caltrain is trying to reverse the trend in 2013 by running its year-long See Something - Say Something campaign "to engage passengers in promoting safety throughout the rail system and reminding customers of safe behavior near the railroad," Caltrain said in an official release.
The objective of the project is to encourage riders to be aware of what's going on at stations and on trains, and to report any unsafe conditions.
Different safety messages will be promoted each month through social media, at stations on the electric signs and on trains. The January message is "We can all count on a safe ride if we look out for each other.”
Riders are encouraged to call the police if they see anything that may be unsafe.
Have you ever witnessed a Caltrain emergency? Do you think riders need to be more aware? Tell us in the comments!
The engineers may 'see' something, but it will be too late do 'say' or 'do' anything but hit the brakes and wait for the inevitable. The transit police may 'see' something if they happen to be in the right place at the right time, but that is rare and sheer luck with so few police covering so many miles of railway. Even if there is a volunteer at a crossing such as in Palo Alto, those intent have still 'succeeded' simply by moving down the tracks. I am not saying do nothing, but why can we not admit what is real: these acts continue because the are individual, random and though not rare enough, rare. There is no way to know where to be. My complaint is not with trying, my complaint is trying to link a pointless feel-good campaign to preventing suicides when there is no cause and effect relationship. A slogan dreamed up by a contractor at an ad agency and rubber stamped by a transit bureaucrat shows contempt for the riding public's intelligence. A far more effective strategy is to target those living and working by the tracks. Offer rewards of $100 for tips that result in arrests of trespassers or interventions on those acting suspiciously around the railway, the rewards covered by terminating the contract with the ad agency.
There is a simple rule of thumb for railroad deaths, amazingly accurate: Hit facing train: Suicide (in a group: playing a form of 'chicken'); Hit with back to train: earphones on high; Hit from side: trying to beat train across.