Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

Rail Safety Week

#STOPTrackTragedies campaign officially launches on first day of Rail Safety Week

Sep 23, 2019 | 5:01 PM

KAMLOOPS — Every year 2,100 North Americans are injured or killed in railway crossing related incidents.

Today (Sept. 23) marks the first day of Rail Safety Week 2019.

In Kamloops, an event was held at the CP yard parking lot to raise awareness of the dangers that exist at rail crossings.

Sandra LaRose shared the story of her daughter, Kailynn, who was involved in a collision with a train near Weyburn, Sask. on Aug. 16, 2018.

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“First thing you think of is, she’s gone, like by the time we get there she’s going to be gone,” LaRose said, remembering the moment she heard her daughter was struck by a train.

Kailynn was declared brain dead on Aug. 22nd, one day after her 17th birthday.

Her mother now tells the story in hopes of preventing this type of tragedy from happening to anyone else.

“She had Google Maps activated on her phone at the scene,” LaRose said, “so my assumption is she was looking down at her phone to either make sure she made the right turn or she was changing the song on her phone because she played her music through her phone.”

Sarah Mayes, National Director of Operation Lifesaver Canada says many train-related injuries and fatalities are the results of unsafe behaviours at rail crossings.

“Doing things like driving around the lowered gates at a crossing, trying to race a train through a crossing, that type of thing, or using tracks as a shortcut, which is really not a good idea,” Mayes said.

At the start of Rail Safety Week, Operation Lifesaver has launched its #STOPTrackTragedies campaign, telling the personal stories of people affected by rail crossing incidents.

Also, eight new rail safety decals have been installed in Kamloops.

“We have four here on the pavement at the Third Avenue crossing,” Mayes said. “They’re big yellow decals with the words Look Listen Live on them. The idea is to remind people to stop, look and listen for oncoming trains before proceeding through a crossing.”

It’s a message LaRose wishes her daughter had heard. It’s a message she is now spreading in Kailynn’s memory.

“I’m just hoping that people will listen and stay off their phones, pay more attention and realize how much you have to lose.”