Halton Police have picked up on the needless railway crossing deaths; RIDE program being extended to cover rail crossings as well.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.  May 16, 2013  RIDE, that program that pulled us over during the Christmas season to do a quick check on just how much we had had to drink; looks like it is being extended to WHAT

Halton Police have bought into the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police’s 2013 Drive Safe! R.I.D.E. traffic safety campaign developed to focus on rail and road safety issues as police continue to see far too many incidents of serious injury and death related to vehicle and pedestrian interaction with railway lines and railway crossings.

The grief suffered by people who know those killed at railway crossing never leaves their lives.  Better security at the crossing is the first step.  City council is working on this – sooner than later would be nice.

So far, 2013 has seen three pedestrian deaths on railway lines, two in Burlington and one in Oakville.  The prior year saw four pedestrians struck by trains on railway lines in Halton, three of which died.

 People feel they are safe if they look both ways, see no train coming and cross the tracks.  Councillor Dennison told council he does it all the time.  Notwithstanding the inherent dangers involved, it is illegal to disobey railway crossing signals or drive around lowered railway crossing gates.  It is also illegal to trespass upon railway lines.

The campaign will feature a new public information booklet with information on rail and road safety as well as pedestrian safety, drinking and driving, traffic collision reporting, protecting consumers from fraud when purchasing a vehicle, and Ontario’s “pullover” laws.

This campaign is made possible through the support of a number of partners: VIA Rail Canada, Roy Speed & Ross/Globali.com, Canadian Tire, Smart Serve Ontario, Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, Accident Support Services International, Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, the Government of Ontario, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Trillium Automobile Dealers Association, Canpar, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, Labatt Brewing Company, and Alcohol Countermeasures Systems.

While having improved police involvement in railway crossing deaths is a positive sign – keeping people off the railway tracks when there are paths like this all over the city is the real problem.

While it is nice to see all these companies stepping up to support such a program – isn’t this something the public services are there to provide?

And, isn’t this something our municipal council members are in place to endorse as well?  Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison certainly didn’t help when he said publicly that he scoots across the railway tracks at Cumberland where he owns a business all the time.  That comment must have made police chief Tanner cringe.  Send one of those booklets along to Dennison at city hall, while he is still there.

 

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1 comment to Halton Police have picked up on the needless railway crossing deaths; RIDE program being extended to cover rail crossings as well.

  • parrking

    Denise Day, the woman who got this story started with her delegation to city council wrote to say:
    We don’t need more public education, we need improved fencing. Period. People already know the tracks aren’t safe and that they shouldn’t cross them but they continue to break the law. Jack Dennison is an educated man and yet he continues to cross the tracks and even publicly admitted to it in a city council meeting.
    If this was happening in any other area, whether it was cars, boats, airplanes or ATV’s, there would be safety improvements implemented immediately. But when people are killed by trains, it’s always the pedestrians fault. When GO increases its trains as of June 29 the tracks running through Burlington will become a death trap.