Railway Fatalities in Santa Barbara County

Conclusions 7

• CL1
  A sealed corridor has been used effectively to enhance railroad safety.
• CL2
  There is a need for increased security presence to reduce trespassing within the High Fatality Zones, and in other communities this has been achieved through Memoranda of Understanding between Union Pacific Railroad and local law enforcement.
• CL3
  Fencing along the railroad right-of-way in the High Fatality Zones is inadequate or nonexistent.
• CL4
  Overgrown foliage and trees provide a natural shelter for homeless encampments.
• CL5
  Video surveillance cameras provide increased observation of activity by pedestrian trespassers and homeless encampments within the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way.
• CL6
  Eighty-five percent of railroad-related deaths occurring in Santa Barbara County were pedestrian trespasser incidents that occurred in the High Fatality Zone One from Ortega Hill in Summerland to Milpas Street in Santa Barbara and High Fatality Zone Two from Patterson Avenue to Glen Annie Road in Goleta.
• CL7
  The 20 railroad-related deaths that occurred in the 109-mile County railroad corridor during the 2015 through 2018 period are significant and are concentrated within two small areas of track, HFZ1 and HFZ2. A reduction in pedestrian trespassing deaths, including suicides and transient/homeless deaths, can best be secured by restricting access to and providing additional security in the HFZs. Other jurisdictions in the state of California have achieved success in reducing the number of railroad fatalities by constructing a sealed corridor. A sealed corridor could be constructed from Ortega Hill to Glen Annie Road, essentially spanning the cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta. For maximum effectiveness, the proposed Santa Barbara-Goleta corridor would require a program to:  mend existing fences and erect new ones  remove overgrown foliage in the right-of-way area  improve security patrols by negotiating MOUs with local law enforcement  increase surveillance by installing video cameras to monitor pedestrian trespassing and transient/homeless encampments.  A collaboration between all stakeholders, including scheduling regular meetings, will improve railroad safety measures in the County. 4 www.OLI.org Minnesota Operation Lifesaver, Inc., last visited May 23, 2019 6 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY Exhibit A Source: Sheriff/Coroner Data 7 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Finding 1 Eighty-five percent of railroad-related deaths occurring in Santa Barbara County were pedestrian trespasser incidents that occurred in the High Fatality Zone One from Ortega Hill in Summerland to Milpas Street in Santa Barbara and High Fatality Zone Two from Patterson Avenue to Glen Annie Road in Goleta. Recommendation 1 That the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, the County of Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments meet regularly with Union Pacific Railroad to create a safety plan to reduce trespasser deaths in High Fatality Zones. Finding 2 A sealed corridor has been used effectively to enhance railroad safety. Recommendation 2 That the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, the County of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments collaborate with Union Pacific Railroad to develop a sealed corridor from Ortega Hill in Summerland to Glen Annie Road in Goleta. Finding 3 There is a need for increased security presence to reduce trespassing within the High Fatality Zones, and in other communities this has been achieved through Memoranda of Understanding between Union Pacific Railroad and local law enforcement. Recommendation 3 That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff and City of Santa Barbara Police Department negotiate Memoranda of Understanding with Union Pacific Railroad to provide enhanced security within their respective High Fatality Zones. Finding 4 Fencing along the railroad right-of-way in the High Fatality Zones is inadequate or nonexistent. Recommendation 4 That the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, the County of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments collaborate with Union Pacific Railroad to repair and install fencing, to prevent easy access to the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way in the High Fatality Zones. 8 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY Finding 5 Overgrown foliage and trees provide a natural shelter for homeless encampments. Recommendation 5 That the County of Santa Barbara and the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta encourage Union Pacific Railroad to cut back or remove overgrown trees and foliage within the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way in the High Fatality Zones. Finding 6 Video surveillance cameras provide increased observation of activity by pedestrian trespassers and homeless encampments within the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way. Recommendation 6a That the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, the County of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments encourage Union Pacific Railroad to install and monitor video surveillance cameras on poles every mile within the High Fatality Zone. Recommendation 6b That County of Santa Barbara and the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta, together with Union Pacific Railroad, establish a schedule to monitor the video surveillance cameras between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. REQUEST FOR RESPONSE Pursuant to California Penal Code §933 and 935.59.05, the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury requests each entity or individual named below to respond to the enumerated finds and recommendations within the specified statutory time limit. Responses to Findings shall be either:  Agree  Disagree wholly  Disagree partially with an explanation Responses to recommendations shall be one of the following:  Has been implemented, with a brief, summary of the implementation actions taken  Will be implemented, with an implementation schedule  Requires Further Analysis, with an analysis completion date of less than six months after the issuance of the report  Will not be implemented with an explanation of why 9 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY City of Goleta - 90 Days Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 6b City of Santa Barbara - 90 Days Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 6b Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors - 90 Days Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 6b Santa Barbara County Sheriff - 60 Days Finding 3 Recommendation 3 Santa Barbara County Association of Governments - 90 Days Findings 1, 2, 4, 6 Recommendations 1, 2, 4, 6a 10 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY

Observations 1

• OB1
  When compared to the number of railroad-related deaths for neighboring counties, the 20 deaths in the County were higher in number and percentage per population than deaths in San Luis Obispo, Kern, and Ventura counties over the same time period. The Jury found that 85 percent of the deaths occurred in two relatively small sections of the County’s 109-mile-long railroad corridor. The high number of pedestrian fatalities that occurred in HFZ1 and HFZ2 indicates that these two areas should receive intense scrutiny with respect to pedestrian safety. HFZ1 and HFZ2 have several factors in common including:  areas of damaged or nonexistent fencing  stretches of scrub brush and overgrown trees  high numbers of homeless encampments  located near residential neighborhoods  adjacent to Highway 101  infrequently patrolled by security personnel The high number of transient/homeless encampments plays a significant role in county railroad pedestrian deaths. Twelve of the 19 victims have been designated as transient/homeless. Deteriorating fences or no fencing at all provide easy access to the HFZs, while overgrown foliage provides the partial shelter and concealment that attract homeless encampments. As UPR employs few security personnel, the homeless encampments flourish in these zones. Railroad service providers have worked in cooperation with local city and county agencies elsewhere in California to create sealed corridors. A sealed corridor is an area designed to enhance the safety of trains, passengers, motorists, pedestrians, and neighboring land users within and along a railroad corridor. It employs appropriate safety measures to systematically reduce the opportunity for accidents at grade crossings or elsewhere within the corridor.2 An example of this is the City of Glendale, California, where officials from Metrolink and city agencies combined to make safety improvements including roadway and curb widening, new automatic vehicle exit gates, new sidewalks, new pedestrian gates and traffic signal advance preemption technology. Officials from Metrolink and city agencies refer to this as positive train control.3 The combination of these measures and others, such as additional fencing, removal of excess foliage and increased security observation, can work to limit pedestrian access to railroad right-of-way and create a sealed corridor. UPR and Amtrak, working in conjunction with local governmental agencies, could create a sealed corridor stretching from Ortega Hill to Glen Annie Road. Improvements should include the repair and replacement of fencing to eliminate access to the rights-of-way, clearing of overgrown foliage 2 www.DOT.CA.gov/hg/ctc/2006 Southern California Regional Rail Authority Board of Directors Report, “Metrolinks Sealed Corridor Project 2006,” last visited May 9, 2019 3 www.cvweekly.com Crescenta Valley Weekly, “Rail ‘Sealed Corridor Inaugurated,’” November 22, 2012, page 1, last visited May 12, 2019 5 2018-2019 SANTA BARBARA COUNTY GRAND JURY to eliminate shelter areas, and working with local law enforcement to provide security and eliminate pedestrian trespassing. Another component adding strength to the proposed sealed corridor would be to increase the security presence within the right-of-way area. In parts of Ventura County, the Sheriff’s Department and UPR have adopted an MOU to provide security within the privately owned UPR right-of-way, and to investigate reports of pedestrian trespassing. If MOUs can be created with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the Santa Barbara Police Department, security will be vastly improved within the proposed sealed corridor. The introduction of video cameras within the HFZs can also act to seal the corridors. An eight-car passenger train traveling at 80 miles per hour needs about a mile to stop.4 If video surveillance cameras were installed on poles every mile within the HFZs, the increased observation of the zones could alert UPR staff to the existence of pedestrian trespassers and homeless encampments within the right-of-way. Since 90 percent of the fatalities have occurred between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., the cameras would need to be monitored only during this period. The sealed corridor concept could reduce the “suicide by train” incidents. All of the 11 pedestrian suicides occurred in the HFZ1 and HFZ2 areas. Easy access to the right-of-way, the predictability of train arrivals, the overgrown foliage, and the secluded nature of the zones within populated neighborhoods make them likely places for suicide. While the Jury realizes that it would be impossible to prevent determined individuals from ending their lives, creating sealed corridors can reduce the likelihood of suicide by train.

Agency Responses 5

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

No Responses Found 1

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