How do rail-related fatalities happen?

Sadly, most injuries and fatalities are avoidable. They happen to the general public because people for various reasons are on the railroad tracks and don’t heed warnings that a train is near.

Almost one-fifth of all rail-related fatalities in California occur where the rails and street meet, also known as “at-grade crossings.”

Sixty-five percent of rail-related fatalities are comprised of “trespasser fatalities” where people are on rail rights-of-way at places other than designated crossings. These are called trespasser fatalities, because the railroads and the rights-of-way are private property and it is illegal for the general public to be on them.