Norfolk Southern and Dalton PD Make Rail Safety A Priority
Dalton residents Jonathan Foxx and Daryl Bell and an elderly Dade County man lost their lives on North Georgia rail lines in 2014.
Now a team of 20 Dalton PD officers and Norfolk Southern safety experts from Atlanta and Knoxville aim to prevent future casualties by talking rail safety at homeless camps.
Gary Hedgepath,Norfolk Southern Special Investigations,"It’s right next to Norfolk Southern right away, a lot of times without even thinking they will get up on the right away, they may not realize how dangerous it is and may not know that it is also in fact illegal."
Pamphlets are being handed out and safety talks given at Dalton homeless camps and to groups who are most at risk.
Bruce Frazier, Dalton Police Department,"It’s a huge hub for a lot of different railroads, lots or rail crossings, we even had problems of people being hit by trains in cars and also people being hit by trains on foot."
Frazier commends Norfolk Southern’s team for addressing a growing problem.
"Taking proactive steps to educate people on the dangers of being near the railway, I know a lot of people might walk along the railway tracks just to take a shortcut and not think it’s a big deal."
Further rail inspections and safety talks are being offered Thursday across Dalton.
With 18 trespassing deaths in 2014 Georgia is now ranked 9th in the nation.
With Whitfield among the most dangerous counties for train collisions in the peach state.
For More Information:
http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/get-to-know-norfolk-southern/impact/safety.html
http://oli.org/
http://www.daltonpdblog.org/
Leave a Reply