By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor, Progressive Railroading Magazine; January 2018
Despite a decrease in the number of grade crossing accidents in the United States over the past three years, the number of fatalities resulting from those incidents has been on the rise. The number of train and motor vehicle accidents at U.S. grade crossings dropped from 2,295 in 2014, to 2,075 in 2015 and to 2,025 in 2016, according to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) data. However, the number of fatalities resulting from those accidents jumped in 2016 to 265 — up from 233 in 2015 and 262 in 2014.
From 2010 to 2014, an average of 2,100 accidents per year have occurred at highway-rail crossings, with most of them involving collisions between a train and a motor vehicle. On average, 250 people per year were killed in such incidents during that period.
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