Keeping kids safe key priority for CN officer
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/04/2016 (3628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The third day of Rail Safety Week targeted a Brandon middle school Wednesday, as CN officials took classes of Grades 5, 6 and 7 students through need-to-know information about how to navigate train tracks in the area.
Const. Joe Jardine, a former Mountie now with the CN Police Service, took students through a frank 45-minute primer on the danger trains present to pedestrians and motorists.
At the end of the presentation, Jardine, Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest and Brandon School Division director of facilities and transportation Mel Clark led the audience in a Rail Safety Pledge.
“Everything that’s in this room has probably been on a train at some point,” Jardine told the music room full of students.
“CN is the only railway that touches all three coasts, so we’re in 1,100 communities across Canada, and Brandon is an important community for CN,” added CN public affairs manager Kate Fenske.
Jardine’s talk focused on the limited ability of freight trains to stop, and the near-unlimited amount of damage they can inflict in their path.
The main issue with pre-teens is trespassing, Jardine said. He hopes talking to students directly will curb bad habits before they get to be a dangerous problem.
Last year in CN’s Prairie Division, which includes Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, there were two trespassing accidents — one of which resulted in a fatality.
“Prevention is always the best way of doing it,” Jardine said. “Anytime we can get the message (out) in advance and get some of these important lessons across before something bad happens, it’s always best.”
The message is especially important for pre-teens at King George School, located just north of a set of train tracks in Brandon’s east end. Chrest, a King George alumnus, told students it’s especially important for them to avoid the tracks.
Jardine has been collaborating with the city to post signage near tracks that advises: “See tracks, think train.”
“When you see tracks, you may not see a train, you may not hear a train, but look for one because they do move faster than they appear sometimes,” Fenske said.
What has kept Jardine busy in the Brandon area recently is actually driving offences.
“People seem to get confused that a flashing red light means stop,” he said. “For some reason here in Brandon, we seem to think it means accelerate and try and get in front of the train.”
» tbateman@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @tombatemann