Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Sea Tracks Think Train Sea Tracks Thinks Train
Week run from September to the fifteenth through the twenty
first an operation life saver in Norfolk Southern won't remind
you to be careful around railroad tracks. Here to talk
about sea Tracks Think Train Week is John Phipps, Vice
President and Chief Safety Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation. Before
(00:36):
we get started about it's now safe track Think Train Week,
tell me about what you do at Norfolk Southern.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Sure, so, I am our chief safety officer.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm responsible for the safety of our operations, our employees,
and that includes the public. I've worked here for almost
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh wow, now that now you can you cover all
of Georgia, the whole state of Georgia, right, the whole.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
State of Georgia and the other twenty one states where
we operate, which is almost twenty thousand route miles.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's amazing. I see your trains out a lot. It
ran assume through towns and in the country everywhere you
can possibly think of. They're going and they're moving things
rapidly through the state of Georgia, and so having a
real safety week is now c Tracks Think Train Week.
What does that mean for you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So our interface with the public, to your point, happens
everywhere across our network every single day, and the safety
of the citizens of the communities where we operate is
really important to us when we think about and talk
about the things that are hazardous about real operations. You know, unfortunately,
(01:49):
every day somewhere across this country, either somebody is struck
and killed or a vehicle is significantly damaged as a
consequence of a train striking them at a crossing or
trespasser walking along our tracks. And you know, this week
see Tracks Think Train Week ST three for short, is
(02:11):
really all about bringing a better sense of awareness to
the public and the partnership that we can have working
together ultimately to keep people safe.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
You know, you do see that, and you don't. I
don't see many train accidents of course, but I know
they happen all over the place every day. Like you say,
do people to try what are they doing? Mostly they
try to beat the train across tracks.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yep, there's a There are a number of causes that,
when you look at ultimately result in these kind of tragedies,
but there are a few tips and behaviors.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That really can dry a lot of that.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So first, you mentioned people trying to beat the train
at a crossing. Right when you see the gates starting
to come down, you see the flashers flashing. That can
be maybe a little bit of a motivation to hurry
up and get through, but I can tell you it
is never worth it. And all too often when people
(03:14):
try to beat a train, they either get stuck trying
to go around the gates and maybe miss the tracks
and get hung up, or they run into.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Traffic on the other side. Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
There are a bunch of reasons why it's just never
ever a good, good idea. Be patient, give yourself a
couple of minutes to breathe, but the train go by
and you can go on about your business.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You know, I live somewhere where they train tracks go
through cities. They go through I mean the countryside, and
I mean right some of them go right in the
downtown areas of the cities I live in. And I
think that they do such a good job with you know,
letting you know and in order to stopped it. But
(04:01):
I just I'm so afraid that somebody. One day, I'm
going to see somebody try to beat these tracks. And
I have it so far, thank goodness. But I'm I'm
just I'm just pray that I don't see that, and
I'm I'm afraid i am one day. Some of them
are right in the middle of towns. How do you
stop people from doing it?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
A big piece of it is just awareness and talking
about it. And that's why I really appreciate the opportunity
to get the word out on this broadcast. You know
that we have so many touch points with the public,
but one place we can't do is get into people's
homes get it, get it, get around their dinner tables.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And a lot of this is just heightening awareness. So
you know, every opportunity.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That you have to discuss how important real safety is.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I remember when I was a kid, my dad took
me out and we we uh, you know, smashed pennies
on the train tracks. That was a that was something
that we did that I think was acceptable once upon
a time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
But I can tell you.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There are no circumstances where you should ever bring your
family onto rail property. And one of the common misconceptions
is everywhere you see railroad tracks.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's private property.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's it's property just like you or I might own it,
just there's just a lot more of it. So if
you're out on the tracks anywhere besides a public grade
crossing or a public pedestrian crossing, you're actually trespassing. And
you know, besides the fact that it's illegal, it's just
it's incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So to go with your family members so so important.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I wouldn't have thought that that's interesting that it really is.
So it's it's that's those train tracks stretching along the road.
How much the how much width is your property?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, good, great question.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You could just say, on average, probably about fifty feet
in each direction from the center line of track, but
it varies greatly. It could be one hundred to two
hundred feet, or it could be as narrow as fifteen
to twenty feet. Just the safe assumption is stay well
away from the tracks and you'll stay off of railer property.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, that's right. Now, can you process them some type
of ticket or some type of you know, like that takes.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
We have we have our own internal police force that
has jurisdiction on our property and they handle trespassers, just
like any other police would if there were if somebody
that was trespassing on private property. You know, we try
to be good corporate citizens and if it's a mistake,
you know, we'll have a conversation with people first. But
(06:45):
it can lend you a ticket or worse, depending on
the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
What about the trucks. There's a town down for me.
I can't call it. I won't name them town. It's
way down the track from me where they have all
these trucks get stuck on the track sometimes, but they
have everything that says don't come here, don't come here,
go somewhere else, going to You're not going to cross
this track. They still they just get stuck. They get stuck.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Still.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Is that that's a big problem soon?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so it's that that's an issue.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
People like to follow GPS and that includes truck drivers
and sometimes that GPS will send you away that a
truck shouldn't go.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
That The most important thing is, you know, if you
find yourself in a situation or a truck driver finds
himself in a situation where they feel like, hey, yeah,
I'm off my route. I'm not supposed to go across
this crossing, but I'm already here. I don't feel like
backing up. It's definitely not worth it. All you have
to do is go on YouTube for a couple of
(07:45):
seconds and you can find examples of track your trailers
getting struck by trains.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know, again, that's something that happens every day. It's avoidable.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Pay attention to signage, don't take a chance in worst
case scenario if you find yourself in a comp situation.
One thing that we do want to bring people's awareness
to is what's called an EENS sign. It's like there's
a little blue rectangle at every single grade crossing across
the entire country. It's not just Norfolk Southern tracks, but
(08:15):
every single grade crossing across our nation. There's a blue
sign at that crossing. It's got two things on it
that are really important. If you find yourself an emergency,
It's got a phone number that you can call and
that will get you straight to the host railroad for
that location. So if it was a Norfolk Southern crossing,
it would take you straight to our dispatch center.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And then on that.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Sign is also an identification number that is going to
let that dispatcher know exactly where you are so they
can take immediate action and potentially stop a train if
there's one that's end route.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I didn't know that. I'm gonna look at that. I'm
gonna look for that next time.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Time you go up to see a little blue sign,
it's that EENS stands for Emergency Notification Sign.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I was going to ask you what do you do
about stopping the trains coming that way? If you stuck
on the track, your car's stuck, something goes wrong with
it and you're stuck on the track.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Now I know you know what to do. That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh man, that is something. So people need to pay
attention for that one, that's for sure, because at times
there are cars that get stuck on the track but
you can't help it, and just get out of the
car and call that number right.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Exactly, you know, protect yourself, protect your family first, don't
ever try to save the vehicle, Get people out of
the way. Then pick up the phone and make a
phone call.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
What is your company doing to help preventrail accidents? And
you said it earlier that it's just trying to keep
up with it, But what are you doing well this
week at any time to try to keep up with accidents.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, we do a lot in terms of communication and partnerships.
Another really important partnership we have is with Operation Life Saver.
It's the nonprofit that does one thing and one thing only,
and it focuses on public safety around railroad tracks. They
are a huge supporter of sea tracks or sea tracks,
(10:12):
think Train Week, and we work with them to really
get word out. We go to schools, we go to
public functions, we do a lot of advertising. A lot
of the stuff that you'll see out across the country
this week is sponsored by Operation Life Saver.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
They're a really awesome organization that does.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
A tremendous amount of good getting this awareness out and
you know, and we support them every day in addition
to a lot of our own investment and our infrastructure
and some of the engineering controls that can be put
in place to help protect people at grade crossings, like
installing gates, plashers and gates at a place that may
(10:56):
have historically just been a passive system with crossbuk so only.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Right, So Operation Lifesaver were they started just for the
train tracks, that's right.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, this is uh it is purely a function for
rail safety focused on the public and their interface with
what we do moving trains.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, so if someone sees an issue on a track,
what should they do? How can they stop that?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So, I mean the first and foremost thing is get
out of the way, get clear, and then look for.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That E N S sign to make notification.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Protect life first, and then make that phone call if
a train is coming, there's a chance that we could
get it stopped in time.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Did they put the E N S sign at every
every present is where? What's every railroad crossing?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Every single railroad crossing in the country? Okay?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Would could there be somewhere?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Is not there? There shouldn't be. Okay, if you see one,
call nine one.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Oh, Okay, Okay, that's that's good. That's true. That's true.
It's it's just really just it just boggles my mind
when I see people that want to I've seen them
try to beat it. I've seen them beat it and
they've they've gotten lucky and they've done it. But man,
that is that's something I wouldn't do in a million years.
I'm not going to get out there. It's not worth going.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, it's again, it's a huge gamble, and you know,
The reality is the trains are big, they're allowed. People think, hey,
it's not going to happen to me. I'm gonna I'll
know when that thing is coming. I can get out
of the way in time. And unfortunately, those are the
stories that are behind some of the tragedies that we
that we hear about every single day.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It is just not worth it. You're not going to
stop that train.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
He can't stop the train fashion enough for you. You know,
you can't do it. You can't shop it. Yeah, yeah,
especially these real long trains. They are really long.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
There's no way that's right.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's it's the beauty of freight transportation. It's the most
efficient way to move goods over land. But because there's
a lot of momentum and a training, it takes a
really long time to stop them. So you're looking at
upwards of a mile from the time you can see
a headlight. If that engineer tries to put the brakes on,
it can take over a mile. They get that train stopped,
(13:16):
and there's nothing you can do about it. They don't
have a steering wheel, you can't get out of the way.
So the best protection is just staying in the clear.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
You know, you being the chief safety officer, you must
you must have to deal with this all the time
like this.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It's a it is a part of the job.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
And you know, what I do for my company is
really purposeful and meaningful for me working in an industry
that serves the American economy day in and day out. Uh,
it's an awesome career. But it does come with with
with some of these realities and that's why being proactive
about it is so important to me personally and to
(13:54):
our organization. You know, there's a lot that can be
done to help protect people's lives, and sometimes it's as
simple as just speaking up and having a conversation.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, yeah, it really is. Well, you know, we talked
about the trucks and then we talked about the cars.
Is there anything else that gets in front of the
train on the track.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, let's talk about people, and because there's a couple
of things there that are again you think it's never
going to happen to you, but unfortunately, we hit people
walking on the tracks every day. A lot of times
that that are right away is a straight line to
where you want to be, and people can use the
(14:32):
tracks as a as a footpath when again it's trespassing
and a couple of details just for that. These are
things that have emerged in the past few years. You know,
I have really awesome earbuds for music. When I put
them in, it can drown out the world. Like if
my kids are loud and causing a ruckus at home,
(14:53):
I put those noise canceling earbuds in, it drowns the
world out. It will also drown out the sound of
a train horn and a lot of times people are
walking down the track, they've got their earbuds in, they're
back to a train and literally that train is blowing
the horn and they can't hear it coming and we
find out the wrong way. So never put your earbuds
in when you're walking on the track.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Don't.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Don't do it to begin with, But that is an
added hazard that we've started to see more and more
of them unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Wow. Yeah, I've we had one down in South Georgia
many years ago. They were filming a movie and they
didn't bother to call the train. The people from the
train and the train comes along and that's that's when
it happens.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So yeah, there also people they'll use the train where
they're out walking and running whatever as a as a pathway,
but they may find themselves. It may be a bridge
or something. You find yourself on that bridge getting across,
you can't get out of the way, and yeah, there's
nowhere to go, nowhere to go, there's nowhere to go.
(15:57):
I've heard of that too. Oh it's terrible, it's terrible. Well,
where should people go to look and see things about
safety and to find out about you and your safety?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah. Operation Lifesaver's website is a tremendous resource. It has
a lot of stuff that you could use if you're
a teacher, if you are looking for a way to
just get a little bit awareness to a group that
you have influence over, even if it's just your family.
Oli dot org that is the website for Operation Lifesaver,
(16:30):
and again there is a litany resources there. Really strongly
encourage you and all your listeners to take advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Coming up this week, we have c tracks think train week,
but they work all the time anyway, not just during
this week. Operation Lifesaver is working all the time to
get the word out about this. I want to make
people aware of that. Is that true?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's absolutely true. Yep.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Twenty four to seven three sixty five. That's their only mission.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, yeah, that is. I've had them on before and
they they're really, they're really they're dedicated to this, they
really are. And it's a good too. Glad for them,
you know out Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, people's lives. There's nothing more. If that didn't get
you fired up, I don't know what I know.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
So you can go to the operation website. Can you
go to Norfolk Southern's website.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, you can.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
There's a whole, a whole bunch on there about safety.
There's a section that's dedicated specifically to safety.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
A couple of clicks and you can find it very easily.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What do do Do you deal with this every day?
But do you deal with other things too?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh yeah, yep. We're a twenty four seven three sixty.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Five all weather operation and with that comes a lot
of variability and what we do. Uh, it's a very
exciting career. It's one that oftens a lot of variety.
But there's also a lot of a lot of things
that go bump in the night, and that's a part
of what my job is is keeping people safe and
keeping our operations safe and we take tremendous pride and
(18:00):
being very good at that.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You mentioned too that you had the police officers I
guess on the trains. Did they keep these passway pathways
that you talked about data out there looking for those
keeping them clear?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
They are, yep, but there's there's never going to be
enough of them to cover all twenty thousand miles of
our network, So they go.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
To where the problems are the worst.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
So you can imagine dense population areas, inner cities, but
a lot of times, you know, rural communities will still
have people use the tracks. Sometimes it's a route that
doesn't see a lot of train traffic, and that can
cause people to let their guard down as well. Hey
I never see a train here at this time of day.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Why would that?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Why would today be any different than any other day?
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
And that's when disaster cans strike, right, Right?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Do they investigate these accidents that happen on the tracks.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Absolutely, very thoroughly.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We work with local communities and law enforcement to investigate
every one of them. Obviously, take care of the local
citizens and deal with the grief that's sometimes associated with it.
But we also are very committed to root calls, analysis
and always looking for ways that we can make uh,
you know, make our operations safer.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And I want to make it clear too that they're
not the only police that are out there. The city
police and the sheriff. Everybody's out there looking at the track.
So you should watch it too, right about that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's absolutely right. It's a partnership. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And if you should get stopped, if you should get
stuck on the track, get out of the car and
get out of the truck whatever you're in and go
to that sign and call that number that's on the sign.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, that's the best thing you can do.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And what is that number?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Call with the E n S Emergency Notification sign small
and it's the only thing that's blue at a grade crossing.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Well, it's it's very important. And we'll get the word
out during Safety Week. See tracks, think thrain, I think
tracks train anyway, every time I go, I'm not messing
with it. I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Then you're then you're a great partner. And I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Oh I tell people, don't mess with that, just wait
it out. It'll be there. It'll be there when you
get there. So I see a lot of times this
is ambulance is trying to get by. Did they ever
do they ever? They don't do that? Do they like
you beat the train?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
No, No, they don't.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And you know, generally they're going to look for the
most direct route and often look for a route that's
going to be unimpeded by rail traffic, so an underpass
and overpass, something that's there that leaves no doubt about
their ability to get through.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I wanted to get that out there because I know
people may may see them and they don't do that,
So don't do it. Don't do it, folks. Well, thank you,
thank you John so much for taking time to time
out to talk about this and want we will warn
everybody and we'll get the word out for you. We
appreciate you talking to this.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, man, thank you, thanks for having me on today.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
John.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
That's John Flipp's VP and Chief Safety Officer for Norfolk
Southern Corporation. Remember c tracks, Think Train. Find out about
Norfolk Southern at Norfolksouthern dot com. You can find out
more about Operation Lifesaver ATLI dot org. Diabetes is on
the rise among young people in the United States, with
(21:15):
significant increases in type RUN and type two diabetes. Doctor
Primila Bandwaight is vice president of Clinical Programs for United Healthcare.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So, diabetes is a disease that is actually fairly prevalent
now in the United States. From what we're seeing today,
about thirty eight million adults in the US now have diabetes,
and the concern is that younger and younger individuals are
also getting diabetes.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And when we say younger, we mean.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Childhood diabetes is also on the rise. But diabetes is
one blood trigger levels in the blood increase, and it
can be due to.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Very different things depending on what kind of diabetes you have.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So there's type one diabetes and that's when the pancreas
organ in the body starts to shut down and then
the body can't process the sugar. And then there's two,
which is more acquired, and that's something that's due to
unhealthy lifestyle, not eating you know, healthy foods, processed foods,
(22:23):
not having an active lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What is by juvenile diabetes and problems it can have
with your vision and all show your eye health.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yeah, So what happens to diabetes is because all.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
The damage that happens to the blood vessels from the
high sugar, it starts to really impede the ability for
the blood to get to certain parts of the eye.
And one of those parts of the body is the eye,
and the eye has a lot of tiny blood vessels
in the back of the eye, and so when the
blood doesn't get there, when there's damage, you can imagine
(23:01):
it starts to really hurt the back of the eye
and then cause vision loss if there's bleeding or leaking
a fluid. So that's something that actually happens in diabetes
after you've been die.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
For a good number of years.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
But in a lot of cases, many people don't even
realize how long they've had diabetes for before they actually
get diagnosed. So it's so important to go in to
get an eye exam to detect if there's any issues
happening with the back of the eye.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
What about doing pregnancy, can they pass those problems along
as vision problems, not.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Really passing it along.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
But what happens is when a woman is in a
pregnant state, their body is more susceptible to the high
sugar levels and they fire diabetes during pregnancy, And so
it's just something that pregnant women have to be aware
of and their primary doctor typically is checking out for
that as well through the tests that they do when
(23:58):
they're pregnant.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Now, what is a diabetes eye exam? And should should
regular doctor see you for that type of exam?
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Yeah, any eye doctor can, any optometrist or ophthalmologist can
see you for a full comprehensive eye exam. But what
just happens what they're looking out for diabetes is also
looking at the back of the eye. To effectively do that,
you can't need to get a dilated exam, and that's
when they put the drops in your eye, so the
pupil opens up like a big window and you look
(24:29):
at the back and you can see what's going on there.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Can people live longer, healthier lives with diabetes.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Oh, definitely if you manage it.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
You know, if you manage your blood sugar, if you
have a good, healthy lifestyle where you're fairly active, you're
checking your sugar levels right on a daily basis, and
you know where you need to be, you're eating well,
then anyone with diabetes can really live a healthy, long lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Good good is it? Is there a place where we
can go to look at the find out more.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Yeah, definitely. We have a great partner called Prevent Blindness.
They're the nation's leading volunteer eyehealth and safety organization, but
you can go to Prevent Blindness dot org, forward slash
diabetes to learn more about diabetes and iehealth.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
For questions and comments on today's program, you can email
me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening.
I'll talk to you next week right here on your
local radio station on Georgia Focus.
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Sea Tracks Think Train Sea Tracks Thinks Train
Week run from September to the fifteenth through the twenty
first an operation life saver in Norfolk Southern won't remind
you to be careful around railroad tracks. Here to talk
about sea Tracks Think Train Week is John Phipps, Vice
President and Chief Safety Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation. Before
(00:36):
we get started about it's now safe track Think Train Week,
tell me about what you do at Norfolk Southern.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Sure, so, I am our chief safety officer.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm responsible for the safety of our operations, our employees,
and that includes the public. I've worked here for almost
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh wow, now that now you can you cover all
of Georgia, the whole state of Georgia, right, the whole.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
State of Georgia and the other twenty one states where
we operate, which is almost twenty thousand route miles.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's amazing. I see your trains out a lot. It
ran assume through towns and in the country everywhere you
can possibly think of. They're going and they're moving things
rapidly through the state of Georgia, and so having a
real safety week is now c Tracks Think Train Week.
What does that mean for you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So our interface with the public, to your point, happens
everywhere across our network every single day, and the safety
of the citizens of the communities where we operate is
really important to us when we think about and talk
about the things that are hazardous about real operations. You know, unfortunately,
(01:49):
every day somewhere across this country, either somebody is struck
and killed or a vehicle is significantly damaged as a
consequence of a train striking them at a crossing or
trespasser walking along our tracks. And you know, this week
see Tracks Think Train Week ST three for short, is
(02:11):
really all about bringing a better sense of awareness to
the public and the partnership that we can have working
together ultimately to keep people safe.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
You know, you do see that, and you don't. I
don't see many train accidents of course, but I know
they happen all over the place every day. Like you say,
do people to try what are they doing? Mostly they
try to beat the train across tracks.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yep, there's a There are a number of causes that,
when you look at ultimately result in these kind of tragedies,
but there are a few tips and behaviors.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That really can dry a lot of that.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So first, you mentioned people trying to beat the train
at a crossing. Right when you see the gates starting
to come down, you see the flashers flashing. That can
be maybe a little bit of a motivation to hurry
up and get through, but I can tell you it
is never worth it. And all too often when people
(03:14):
try to beat a train, they either get stuck trying
to go around the gates and maybe miss the tracks
and get hung up, or they run into.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Traffic on the other side. Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
There are a bunch of reasons why it's just never
ever a good, good idea. Be patient, give yourself a
couple of minutes to breathe, but the train go by
and you can go on about your business.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You know, I live somewhere where they train tracks go
through cities. They go through I mean the countryside, and
I mean right some of them go right in the
downtown areas of the cities I live in. And I
think that they do such a good job with you know,
letting you know and in order to stopped it. But
(04:01):
I just I'm so afraid that somebody. One day, I'm
going to see somebody try to beat these tracks. And
I have it so far, thank goodness. But I'm I'm
just I'm just pray that I don't see that, and
I'm I'm afraid i am one day. Some of them
are right in the middle of towns. How do you
stop people from doing it?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
A big piece of it is just awareness and talking
about it. And that's why I really appreciate the opportunity
to get the word out on this broadcast. You know
that we have so many touch points with the public,
but one place we can't do is get into people's
homes get it, get it, get around their dinner tables.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And a lot of this is just heightening awareness. So
you know, every opportunity.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That you have to discuss how important real safety is.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I remember when I was a kid, my dad took
me out and we we uh, you know, smashed pennies
on the train tracks. That was a that was something
that we did that I think was acceptable once upon
a time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
But I can tell you.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There are no circumstances where you should ever bring your
family onto rail property. And one of the common misconceptions
is everywhere you see railroad tracks.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's private property.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
It's it's property just like you or I might own it,
just there's just a lot more of it. So if
you're out on the tracks anywhere besides a public grade
crossing or a public pedestrian crossing, you're actually trespassing. And
you know, besides the fact that it's illegal, it's just
it's incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So to go with your family members so so important.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I wouldn't have thought that that's interesting that it really is.
So it's it's that's those train tracks stretching along the road.
How much the how much width is your property?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, good, great question.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You could just say, on average, probably about fifty feet
in each direction from the center line of track, but
it varies greatly. It could be one hundred to two
hundred feet, or it could be as narrow as fifteen
to twenty feet. Just the safe assumption is stay well
away from the tracks and you'll stay off of railer property.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, that's right. Now, can you process them some type
of ticket or some type of you know, like that takes.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
We have we have our own internal police force that
has jurisdiction on our property and they handle trespassers, just
like any other police would if there were if somebody
that was trespassing on private property. You know, we try
to be good corporate citizens and if it's a mistake,
you know, we'll have a conversation with people first. But
(06:45):
it can lend you a ticket or worse, depending on
the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
What about the trucks. There's a town down for me.
I can't call it. I won't name them town. It's
way down the track from me where they have all
these trucks get stuck on the track sometimes, but they
have everything that says don't come here, don't come here,
go somewhere else, going to You're not going to cross
this track. They still they just get stuck. They get stuck.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Still.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Is that that's a big problem soon?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so it's that that's an issue.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
People like to follow GPS and that includes truck drivers
and sometimes that GPS will send you away that a
truck shouldn't go.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
That The most important thing is, you know, if you
find yourself in a situation or a truck driver finds
himself in a situation where they feel like, hey, yeah,
I'm off my route. I'm not supposed to go across
this crossing, but I'm already here. I don't feel like
backing up. It's definitely not worth it. All you have
to do is go on YouTube for a couple of
(07:45):
seconds and you can find examples of track your trailers
getting struck by trains.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You know, again, that's something that happens every day. It's avoidable.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Pay attention to signage, don't take a chance in worst
case scenario if you find yourself in a comp situation.
One thing that we do want to bring people's awareness
to is what's called an EENS sign. It's like there's
a little blue rectangle at every single grade crossing across
the entire country. It's not just Norfolk Southern tracks, but
(08:15):
every single grade crossing across our nation. There's a blue
sign at that crossing. It's got two things on it
that are really important. If you find yourself an emergency,
It's got a phone number that you can call and
that will get you straight to the host railroad for
that location. So if it was a Norfolk Southern crossing,
it would take you straight to our dispatch center.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And then on that.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Sign is also an identification number that is going to
let that dispatcher know exactly where you are so they
can take immediate action and potentially stop a train if
there's one that's end route.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I didn't know that. I'm gonna look at that. I'm
gonna look for that next time.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Time you go up to see a little blue sign,
it's that EENS stands for Emergency Notification Sign.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I was going to ask you what do you do
about stopping the trains coming that way? If you stuck
on the track, your car's stuck, something goes wrong with
it and you're stuck on the track.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Now I know you know what to do. That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh man, that is something. So people need to pay
attention for that one, that's for sure, because at times
there are cars that get stuck on the track but
you can't help it, and just get out of the
car and call that number right.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Exactly, you know, protect yourself, protect your family first, don't
ever try to save the vehicle, Get people out of
the way. Then pick up the phone and make a
phone call.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
What is your company doing to help preventrail accidents? And
you said it earlier that it's just trying to keep
up with it, But what are you doing well this
week at any time to try to keep up with accidents.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, we do a lot in terms of communication and partnerships.
Another really important partnership we have is with Operation Life Saver.
It's the nonprofit that does one thing and one thing only,
and it focuses on public safety around railroad tracks. They
are a huge supporter of sea tracks or sea tracks,
(10:12):
think Train Week, and we work with them to really
get word out. We go to schools, we go to
public functions, we do a lot of advertising. A lot
of the stuff that you'll see out across the country
this week is sponsored by Operation Life Saver.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
They're a really awesome organization that does.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
A tremendous amount of good getting this awareness out and
you know, and we support them every day in addition
to a lot of our own investment and our infrastructure
and some of the engineering controls that can be put
in place to help protect people at grade crossings, like
installing gates, plashers and gates at a place that may
(10:56):
have historically just been a passive system with crossbuk so only.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Right, So Operation Lifesaver were they started just for the
train tracks, that's right.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, this is uh it is purely a function for
rail safety focused on the public and their interface with
what we do moving trains.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, so if someone sees an issue on a track,
what should they do? How can they stop that?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So, I mean the first and foremost thing is get
out of the way, get clear, and then look for.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That E N S sign to make notification.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Protect life first, and then make that phone call if
a train is coming, there's a chance that we could
get it stopped in time.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Did they put the E N S sign at every
every present is where? What's every railroad crossing?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Every single railroad crossing in the country? Okay?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Would could there be somewhere?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Is not there? There shouldn't be. Okay, if you see one,
call nine one.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Oh, Okay, Okay, that's that's good. That's true. That's true.
It's it's just really just it just boggles my mind
when I see people that want to I've seen them
try to beat it. I've seen them beat it and
they've they've gotten lucky and they've done it. But man,
that is that's something I wouldn't do in a million years.
I'm not going to get out there. It's not worth going.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, it's again, it's a huge gamble, and you know,
The reality is the trains are big, they're allowed. People think, hey,
it's not going to happen to me. I'm gonna I'll
know when that thing is coming. I can get out
of the way in time. And unfortunately, those are the
stories that are behind some of the tragedies that we
that we hear about every single day.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It is just not worth it. You're not going to
stop that train.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
He can't stop the train fashion enough for you. You know,
you can't do it. You can't shop it. Yeah, yeah,
especially these real long trains. They are really long.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
There's no way that's right.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's it's the beauty of freight transportation. It's the most
efficient way to move goods over land. But because there's
a lot of momentum and a training, it takes a
really long time to stop them. So you're looking at
upwards of a mile from the time you can see
a headlight. If that engineer tries to put the brakes on,
it can take over a mile. They get that train stopped,
(13:16):
and there's nothing you can do about it. They don't
have a steering wheel, you can't get out of the way.
So the best protection is just staying in the clear.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
You know, you being the chief safety officer, you must
you must have to deal with this all the time
like this.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It's a it is a part of the job.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
And you know, what I do for my company is
really purposeful and meaningful for me working in an industry
that serves the American economy day in and day out. Uh,
it's an awesome career. But it does come with with
with some of these realities and that's why being proactive
about it is so important to me personally and to
(13:54):
our organization. You know, there's a lot that can be
done to help protect people's lives, and sometimes it's as
simple as just speaking up and having a conversation.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, yeah, it really is. Well, you know, we talked
about the trucks and then we talked about the cars.
Is there anything else that gets in front of the
train on the track.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, let's talk about people, and because there's a couple
of things there that are again you think it's never
going to happen to you, but unfortunately, we hit people
walking on the tracks every day. A lot of times
that that are right away is a straight line to
where you want to be, and people can use the
(14:32):
tracks as a as a footpath when again it's trespassing
and a couple of details just for that. These are
things that have emerged in the past few years. You know,
I have really awesome earbuds for music. When I put
them in, it can drown out the world. Like if
my kids are loud and causing a ruckus at home,
(14:53):
I put those noise canceling earbuds in, it drowns the
world out. It will also drown out the sound of
a train horn and a lot of times people are
walking down the track, they've got their earbuds in, they're
back to a train and literally that train is blowing
the horn and they can't hear it coming and we
find out the wrong way. So never put your earbuds
in when you're walking on the track.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Don't.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Don't do it to begin with, But that is an
added hazard that we've started to see more and more
of them unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Wow. Yeah, I've we had one down in South Georgia
many years ago. They were filming a movie and they
didn't bother to call the train. The people from the
train and the train comes along and that's that's when
it happens.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So yeah, there also people they'll use the train where
they're out walking and running whatever as a as a pathway,
but they may find themselves. It may be a bridge
or something. You find yourself on that bridge getting across,
you can't get out of the way, and yeah, there's
nowhere to go, nowhere to go, there's nowhere to go.
(15:57):
I've heard of that too. Oh it's terrible, it's terrible. Well,
where should people go to look and see things about
safety and to find out about you and your safety?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah. Operation Lifesaver's website is a tremendous resource. It has
a lot of stuff that you could use if you're
a teacher, if you are looking for a way to
just get a little bit awareness to a group that
you have influence over, even if it's just your family.
Oli dot org that is the website for Operation Lifesaver,
(16:30):
and again there is a litany resources there. Really strongly
encourage you and all your listeners to take advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Coming up this week, we have c tracks think train week,
but they work all the time anyway, not just during
this week. Operation Lifesaver is working all the time to
get the word out about this. I want to make
people aware of that. Is that true?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's absolutely true. Yep.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Twenty four to seven three sixty five. That's their only mission.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, yeah, that is. I've had them on before and
they they're really, they're really they're dedicated to this, they
really are. And it's a good too. Glad for them,
you know out Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, people's lives. There's nothing more. If that didn't get
you fired up, I don't know what I know.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
So you can go to the operation website. Can you
go to Norfolk Southern's website.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, you can.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
There's a whole, a whole bunch on there about safety.
There's a section that's dedicated specifically to safety.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
A couple of clicks and you can find it very easily.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What do do Do you deal with this every day?
But do you deal with other things too?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh yeah, yep. We're a twenty four seven three sixty.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Five all weather operation and with that comes a lot
of variability and what we do. Uh, it's a very
exciting career. It's one that oftens a lot of variety.
But there's also a lot of a lot of things
that go bump in the night, and that's a part
of what my job is is keeping people safe and
keeping our operations safe and we take tremendous pride and
(18:00):
being very good at that.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You mentioned too that you had the police officers I
guess on the trains. Did they keep these passway pathways
that you talked about data out there looking for those
keeping them clear?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
They are, yep, but there's there's never going to be
enough of them to cover all twenty thousand miles of
our network, So they go.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
To where the problems are the worst.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
So you can imagine dense population areas, inner cities, but
a lot of times, you know, rural communities will still
have people use the tracks. Sometimes it's a route that
doesn't see a lot of train traffic, and that can
cause people to let their guard down as well. Hey
I never see a train here at this time of day.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Why would that?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Why would today be any different than any other day?
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
And that's when disaster cans strike, right, Right?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Do they investigate these accidents that happen on the tracks.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Absolutely, very thoroughly.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We work with local communities and law enforcement to investigate
every one of them. Obviously, take care of the local
citizens and deal with the grief that's sometimes associated with it.
But we also are very committed to root calls, analysis
and always looking for ways that we can make uh,
you know, make our operations safer.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And I want to make it clear too that they're
not the only police that are out there. The city
police and the sheriff. Everybody's out there looking at the track.
So you should watch it too, right about that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's absolutely right. It's a partnership. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And if you should get stopped, if you should get
stuck on the track, get out of the car and
get out of the truck whatever you're in and go
to that sign and call that number that's on the sign.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, that's the best thing you can do.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And what is that number?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Call with the E n S Emergency Notification sign small
and it's the only thing that's blue at a grade crossing.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Well, it's it's very important. And we'll get the word
out during Safety Week. See tracks, think thrain, I think
tracks train anyway, every time I go, I'm not messing
with it. I'm not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Then you're then you're a great partner. And I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Oh I tell people, don't mess with that, just wait
it out. It'll be there. It'll be there when you
get there. So I see a lot of times this
is ambulance is trying to get by. Did they ever
do they ever? They don't do that? Do they like
you beat the train?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
No, No, they don't.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And you know, generally they're going to look for the
most direct route and often look for a route that's
going to be unimpeded by rail traffic, so an underpass
and overpass, something that's there that leaves no doubt about
their ability to get through.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I wanted to get that out there because I know
people may may see them and they don't do that,
So don't do it. Don't do it, folks. Well, thank you,
thank you John so much for taking time to time
out to talk about this and want we will warn
everybody and we'll get the word out for you. We
appreciate you talking to this.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, man, thank you, thanks for having me on today.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
John.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
That's John Flipp's VP and Chief Safety Officer for Norfolk
Southern Corporation. Remember c tracks, Think Train. Find out about
Norfolk Southern at Norfolksouthern dot com. You can find out
more about Operation Lifesaver ATLI dot org. Diabetes is on
the rise among young people in the United States, with
(21:15):
significant increases in type RUN and type two diabetes. Doctor
Primila Bandwaight is vice president of Clinical Programs for United Healthcare.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So, diabetes is a disease that is actually fairly prevalent
now in the United States. From what we're seeing today,
about thirty eight million adults in the US now have diabetes,
and the concern is that younger and younger individuals are
also getting diabetes.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And when we say younger, we mean.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Childhood diabetes is also on the rise. But diabetes is
one blood trigger levels in the blood increase, and it
can be due to.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Very different things depending on what kind of diabetes you have.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So there's type one diabetes and that's when the pancreas
organ in the body starts to shut down and then
the body can't process the sugar. And then there's two,
which is more acquired, and that's something that's due to
unhealthy lifestyle, not eating you know, healthy foods, processed foods,
(22:23):
not having an active lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What is by juvenile diabetes and problems it can have
with your vision and all show your eye health.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yeah, So what happens to diabetes is because all.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
The damage that happens to the blood vessels from the
high sugar, it starts to really impede the ability for
the blood to get to certain parts of the eye.
And one of those parts of the body is the eye,
and the eye has a lot of tiny blood vessels
in the back of the eye, and so when the
blood doesn't get there, when there's damage, you can imagine
(23:01):
it starts to really hurt the back of the eye
and then cause vision loss if there's bleeding or leaking
a fluid. So that's something that actually happens in diabetes
after you've been die.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
For a good number of years.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
But in a lot of cases, many people don't even
realize how long they've had diabetes for before they actually
get diagnosed. So it's so important to go in to
get an eye exam to detect if there's any issues
happening with the back of the eye.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
What about doing pregnancy, can they pass those problems along
as vision problems, not.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Really passing it along.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
But what happens is when a woman is in a
pregnant state, their body is more susceptible to the high
sugar levels and they fire diabetes during pregnancy, And so
it's just something that pregnant women have to be aware
of and their primary doctor typically is checking out for
that as well through the tests that they do when
(23:58):
they're pregnant.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Now, what is a diabetes eye exam? And should should
regular doctor see you for that type of exam?
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Yeah, any eye doctor can, any optometrist or ophthalmologist can
see you for a full comprehensive eye exam. But what
just happens what they're looking out for diabetes is also
looking at the back of the eye. To effectively do that,
you can't need to get a dilated exam, and that's
when they put the drops in your eye, so the
pupil opens up like a big window and you look
(24:29):
at the back and you can see what's going on there.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Can people live longer, healthier lives with diabetes.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Oh, definitely if you manage it.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
You know, if you manage your blood sugar, if you
have a good, healthy lifestyle where you're fairly active, you're
checking your sugar levels right on a daily basis, and
you know where you need to be, you're eating well,
then anyone with diabetes can really live a healthy, long lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Good good is it? Is there a place where we
can go to look at the find out more.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
Yeah, definitely. We have a great partner called Prevent Blindness.
They're the nation's leading volunteer eyehealth and safety organization, but
you can go to Prevent Blindness dot org, forward slash
diabetes to learn more about diabetes and iehealth.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
For questions and comments on today's program, you can email
me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening.
I'll talk to you next week right here on your
local radio station on Georgia Focus.
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