Waltrip gives safety lesson after teen killed by train
Reginald White, dean of students at Waltrip High School, asked the ninth-graders who crowded into an auditorium Wednesday how many of them walked on a railroad track that morning.
More than half raised their hands.
Tracks lead up to and run just north of the school in the Oak Forest community in northwest Houston, and crossing or walking alongside them is a daily occurrence for many students. But the death last month of a classmate was a reminder of the dangers of those walks, school officials said, even if they provide a shortcut to school.
School administrators and representatives of a program on train safety never mentioned 16-year- old Eryc’ Charles Shelby’s name, but students knew it was his death that brought them to the auditorium.
“Everybody knows why we’re here, so I don’t have to reiterate why,” said White, who is also the school’s at-risk administrator.
Shelby was struck by a train on Oct. 14 while he was walking with a friend along the tracks. The friend started to run at the sight of the approaching train and told Shelby
to move, he told authorities, but Shelby didn’t understand the train’s close proximity or its speed and was struck from behind and killed. Officials with Burlington North Santa Fe Railway will file a report with the Federal Railroad Administration by the end of the month.
Waltrip administrators scheduled a train safety session with Operation Life Saver after Shelby’s death. White wanted students to understand the law — that it is considered trespassing to walk along railroad tracks, as they are private property — and to better understand safety so they won’t further risk their lives in search of a shortcut. He said at the time of Shelby’s death, many students didn’t fully grasp how dangerous it was to be so close to the tracks.
“In many cases, students have to cross the track, but they don’t have to walk the track,” White said. Students often choose to walk alongside the tracks for a more direct route instead of going to the sidewalks.
41 trespassing deaths
With trains operating 24 hours a day, there isn’t any “safe” time to walk on train tracks, according to Michael Williams, a retired engineer with Burlington North Santa Fe Railway and a volunteer with Operation Life Saver, an organization that offers train safety education.
“Trains run 365 days a year,” he said. “Has a train ever woke you up at 3 a.m.?”
“Yes,” the audience replied in unison.
He also made the financial appeal to students, informing them that a citation for trespassing could cost up to $285.
Trains extend at least 3 feet beyond the width of the track in each direction, meaning if someone were to walk beside the track they could easily be hit.
Jacob Holmes, a freshman at Waltrip, said he walks by the tracks every day but doesn’t walk directly on them, as that “doesn’t feel safe.” After the presentation, he was surprised to learn his action is considered trespassing but said he still most likely would cross the tracks.
“It’s either that or I have to go past the highway,” the 14-year-old said. “I’m probably going to have to do it.”
Texas is second in the nation behind California for trespassing deaths in 2014, with 41 deaths, according to statistics from the Federal Railroad Ad- ministration. The rate of trespasser deaths is going up each year, said Mark Connell, another volunteer with Operation Life Saver.
Connell and Williams showed students a video of accidents in which people were hit by trains, with footage sometimes coming from the train camera. The students gasped and covered their faces at those moments.
‘An eye-opener’
They also showed a recent “Today Show” segment in which people taking selfies on train tracks were killed seconds later. The reporter demonstrated how newer, energyefficient trains can operate rather quietly. Trains sound horns at crossings, but for the majority of the route, they can be almost silent until they are extremely close.
Celeste Cortinas, 17 and a senior at Waltrip, said she had taken photos near the train track with a friend last year, “wanting to be artistic,” but hasn’t done that since. She tries to cross only at designated spots with sidewalks. She was surprised at how silent running trains could be.
“Whenever I would hear about people getting hit I’d always be like, ‘How do you not hear it?’ ” she said. “I know trains have horns, and I always felt like you could hear it. This was an eye-opener.”
Operation Life Saver has offered more than 3,500 safety presentations for schools, senior citizen groups and truck drivers. The presentation at Waltrip was a first at the campus.