A Commuter Safety Blitz, sweetened with doughnuts and free coffee, targeted Tinley Park Metra commuters Wednesday.
Tom McNamara, presenter of the Operation Lifesaver program for Metra, said the program, which is intended to reduce fatal train collisions, will be conducted at 45 of the region’s 211 commuter train stations this year.
Besides handing out refreshments, Metra representatives and village officials offered literature, showed a brief video and distributed souvenirs.
Train collisions occur every 100 minutes across the nation, McNamara said.
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But the situation is improving, he added.
The number of fatal car-train accidents in Illinois declined to 29 in 1997 from 36 in 1996.
The safety program was launched about five years ago.
“We try to hit every station,” McNamara said. “It takes about three years.”
A grant from the Interstate Commerce Commission will enable Metra to schedule safety programs at 45 train stations this year instead of the usual 35, he said.
Impatience is often the culprit in car-train accidents, McNamara said.
“People get in a set routine,” McNamara said. “They’re thinking of other things (when they drive or walk across railroad tracks). Everybody’s always in a hurry.”
And it is not just drivers who are impatient, he said.
“A big problem in Tinley Park is people walking right across the tracks” to get to trains, McNamara said. Part of Wednesday’s program reminded commuters to use the designated crosswalk.
People who walk or drive across railroad tracks in disregard of safety rules could be subject to a $500 fine, he said.
The next blitz in the south suburbs is scheduled for Friday in Richton Park.
Children are also a target of the safety program, said McNamara, who has spoken to nearly 125,000 preschoolers and teens enrolled in driver’s education in the last two years.
“You get them when they’re young (with the safety message), and you’ve got them for life,” McNamara said.