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 March 2022
South Dakota highway-rail grade crossing and trespasser incidents
Source: https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Query/gxrtally1.aspx
*Thru March 2022
Do you know your NUMBERS about Vehicle-Train Crashes?
333 million vehicles cross railroad tracks every day
297 people were killed at highway-rail crossing collisions in 2019
574 people were killed trespassing on railroad property in 2019
18 football fields in length, is how long it takes a freight train, traveling at 55mph, to stop
61 percent of vehicle/train collisions occur at highway-rail crossings with active warning devices (lights, gates, bells)
205,907 highway-rail crossings in the United States as of August 2020
40 times you are more likely to die in a crash with a train than you are to die in an automobile crash
3 hours, between each incident where a vehicle or pedestrian is struck by railcar on average
Kevin Brown
State Coordinator
Operation Lifesaver of the Dakotas
dl: (701) 751-6114
ph: (701) 223-6372
tf: (800) 932-8890
