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Crossing safety program targets elderly drivers
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
October 08, 2009 |
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Photo By ADAM NORTHAM
A northbound Amtrak passenger train passes safely over Monticello Street Wednesday afternoon one week after a fatal accident occurred in that spot. The accident inspired officials at Wal-Mart Distribution Center’s Transportation Division to seek increased participation by mature drivers in “Operation Lifesaver,” a course that teaches safety at rail crossings.
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When a Brookhaven woman was killed in a train collision in downtown Brookhaven last week, it caused an awakening in Wal-Mart Distribution Center's Transportation Division.
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Safety Manager David Simmons said the truck drivers and transportation personnel are looking to reach out to elderly drivers in Lincoln County with their safe driving presentations, specifically "Operation Lifesaver," which is devoted to developing and maintaining safety habits at railroad crossings.
Operation Lifesaver and other driving safety courses taught by the division have been successfully conveyed to several target audiences - like professional drivers and high school driver education classes - but the truck drivers and other transportation workers have not yet brought elderly audiences into the fold.
"Seeing what happened last week just heightened our awareness of the need for these presentations in our home county," Simmons said. "One life lost is one too many."
Simmons said the transportation division plans to begin reaching out to churches, civic groups and community leaders in an effort to bring mature drivers to the distribution center's safety courses, which feature video presentations and discussions with Wal-Mart drivers who are certified to teach the course through the Mississippi Department of Transportation. The motto of Operation Lifesaver is "Look, Listen, Live."
Although he prefers that groups come to the center for the classes, Simmons said the instructors would travel offsite to meet with groups of elderly drivers if necessary. To schedule an appointment or learn more about Operation Lifesaver, interested people may reach Simmons at 601-835-3685.
Simmons hopes to step up participation in the program by the elderly as soon as possible, because Mississippi's rail crossing statistics don't look good.
According to data released last year by the Federal Railroad Administration, the Magnolia State ranks seventh nationally in the number of fatal accidents at rail crossings, with 13 recorded in 2008, or basically one fatality every 28 days.
Likewise, the state ranks 11th nationally in the number of all vehicle accidents at rail crossings, with 69 recorded last year, or one every six days.
Simmons said an average of 16 trains per day cross Brookhaven.
"Brookhaven needs this, because if you live anywhere in Brookhaven, you live within a half-mile of the railroad tracks," said Wal-Mart truck driver Tim White, who helps teach Operation Lifesaver.
Besides Operation Lifesaver, the transportation division also teaches the "Committed to Safety Honor Roll Program" for high school driver education classes and the "Eisenhower Interstate Highway Presentation," basically a history of highway transportation in the U.S. The division estimates that as many as 400 new drivers take to the roads of Lincoln County each year.
"(Students) will be taught something here they don't learn in a general driver's safety class," White said.
Every school in Brookhaven and Lincoln County, including Brookhaven Academy, participates in the division's programs, and already 130 students have gone through the course this fall semester.
Brookhaven's Wal-Mart Distribution Center 6811 is the only center in the state that offers the programs.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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