Last year, almost 600 people died in the U.S. on railroad tracks. Forbes reported that a vehicle or person gets hit by a train every three hours across the nation, and Florida is amongst the most dangerous states. A whopping 462 railroad accidents were reported in the Sunshine State between 2014 and 2018, 16 percent of which were fatal and 25 percent resulting in injury. 

According to a July 2018 U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) report on national railroad pedestrian incidents between 2012 and 2014, railroad pedestrian incidents tend to peak in the summer and fall, with May, June, July and August consistently having amongst the most accidental incidents. Railroad suicide fatalities, on the other hand, peak in the spring and summer. The overlap between the two makes one thing clear: summer is a dangerous time of year for railroad accidents.

According to the DOT’s report, the age group of 15 to 24 years old consistently accounted for at least one in five railroad pedestrian incidents. This may be related to the larger amount of free time that comes with school being out for the summer, leading adolescents and young adults to gather and socialize near the tracks. Unfortunately, this is not an issue that is isolated to the state of Florida. In Minnesota, Holli Schafer of Operation Lifesaver Minnesota says that railroad officials “definitely see a spike [in pedestrian accidents] in summer months. The foot traffic increases because people are able to be out and about.”

Also in Minnesota, assistant general manager of the Otter Tail Valley Railroad Troy Dodds has noted that children have been seen playing under stopped trains and trying to run through moving trains: “there’s some risk takers out there, you know - ‘This looks fun to do, let’s see if we can get through it.’ The kids don’t understand what they’re dealing with here. I think they think ‘Well, this train is stopped. It isn’t going to move’ - until it starts to move.”

While it is clear that railroad companies should be doing more to make their tracks inaccessible to the public, parents can be proactive in the meantime by talking to their children and teens about the hazards associated with lingering around train tracks - having a deeper understanding of how dangerous trains are could make a life-saving difference.