A special train passed through Lawrence on Thursday March 26, 2009. The train was part of a program put on by the Union Pacific Railroad to demonstrate how drivers cross in front of trains.

From left, conductor Greg Murray, and Engineer Pete Gehrt, sit in the cab of a special train which passed through Lawrence on Thursday March 26, 2009 the train was part of a program put on by the Union Pacific Railroad to demonstrate how drivers cross in front of trains.

A freight train loaded with coal doesn’t stop on a dime — or within a mile, for that matter. Not when its 38 million pounds are barreling forward at 55 mph.

So do yourself, Doug Rorick and his rail colleagues a favor: Don’t run a railroad-crossing sign, ignore a crossing’s flashing lights or steer around a crossing’s lowered warning bars.

When the two movable objects collide, nobody wins.

“It’s just sad,” said Rorick, a Lawrence resident who’s been working 15 years as an engineer and road foreman for the Union Pacific Railroad.

Rorick joined a team of railroad engineers, conductors, administrators and regulators that rolled into town last week to spread the word about Operation Lifesaver, an effort to eliminate collisions between trains and the pedestrians, cyclists and drivers that cross in their paths.

Such issues were on the minds of city officials and others who boarded a special Union Pacific train Thursday, taking a 16-mile ride through North Lawrence and the countryside.

Recent incidents were all too familiar. Just last week, a pedestrian died after being struck by a train in Independence, Mo. In Lawrence, a woman was injured when her Ford Explorer was struck by a freight train in the early morning of March 13, at a crossing near 1685 E. 1600 Road. Authorities said the woman’s vehicle stopped on the tracks after she apparently steered around the crossing’s lowered gates.

The Federal Railway Administration reports that there were 44 vehicle-train accidents at Kansas crossings in 2008, in which nine people died and another 16 people were injured. The total was the lowest in at least a decade.

And while the number of such collisions continues to drop nationwide — such conflicts have declined 75 percent nationwide since Operation Lifesaver started in 1972 — the goal of increased safety will continue to be a top priority for everyone involved with railroads, said Howard Gillespie, regional manager for the Federal Railroad Administration.

“It’s not just the drivers we’re talking about,” Gillespie said. “There are family members — sons, fathers, mothers, daughters, grandparents. Every life is important.”

A few reminders from the folks associated with Operation Lifesaver:

l A railroad crossing sign is just like a “yield” sign, and anyone crossing the tracks must yield to an approaching train.

l Red lights — flashing or solid — mean “stop.” Whether on a post or on a gate that has been lowered, anyone approaching a crossing must stop and wait for the train to pass.

l Going around gates that have been lowered at a crossing is illegal, and makes the driver of a vehicle legally liable for any deaths, injuries, or damage to property if a collision occurs.

Being alert and following the rules can help keep everyone safe along and aside the rails, said John Simpson, Union Pacific manager for public safety and president of Operation Lifesaver in Kansas.

“Statistically, every two hours someone is struck by a train,” Simpson said, during last week’s visit.

And that, he said, remains far too often.