Many of the homes near the train tracks have been built since the quiet zones went into effect in 2012. The quiet zones were a precondition for building many of the now affected homes. Developers would not have built and residents would not have moved near the crossings except for the quiet zones.
Cities did not make it known to residents that the quiet zones were at risk of suspension.
No, comfort is absolutely NOT more important than public safety but this question implies a false dichotomy. There is a lot more at stake than just the comfort of residents.
It’s worth noting that through August 2024 (the most recent date data is available for) there have thankfully been 0 fatalities at train-crossings along the Provo-Ogden quiet zones (in September 2024 there was 1 tragic train crossing fatality near the Utah/Idaho border in a rural area at a crossing that did not have lights or a cross arm. The crossing was not part of quiet zone). Residents should continue to encourage their cities to promptly complete all needed updates to achieve full compliance with FRA safety standards. Cities also need to do a much better job in the future of maintaining rail-crossings to ensure lapses are not found during inspections.
Over the same period, our state has seen 3 fatalities from drowsy driving related car accidents.
This fact makes the research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety all the more worrisome:
There is a significantly elevated [car] crash risk for:
Drivers who slept for less than 7 hours in the past 24 hours
Drivers who slept for 1 or more hours less than they usually sleep (independent of how much they usually sleep)
Compared to drivers who reported that they had slept at least their usual amount in the past 24 hours, drivers who reported they had slept:
1-2 hours less than usual had 1.3 times the crash rate
2-3 hours less than usual had 3.0 times the crash rate
Other research has found that “Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication” (see study here; also cited in USNews.com story here)
A survey launched on October 12, 2024 is beginning to shed light on the fact that many residents living near train crossings in Provo thru Ogden are in fact losing 1-3 or more hours of sleep per night so the estimates of increased crash rate should be seriously considered.
With likely hundreds, perhaps thousands of newly sleep deprived drivers on our roads, this research along with the relative number of train-crossing and car crash fatalities strongly suggests public safety risk is higher now than before the FRA’s decision to suspend the quiet zones.
This alone should cause us to reflect on whether public safety is really being served with the FRA’s decision. However, increased car crash risk is just the beginning of the public health and safety risks the train horns are now contributing to.
Sleep fragmentation and disturbances have been studied extensively by many researchers and have been associated with:
Weakened immune systems which increase susceptibility to common viral illnesses (which can and do lead to death in some cases) (see Sleep, Noise and Health Review)
Increased risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt, anxiety, and depression (see Meta-analysis of sleep disturbance and suicidal thoughts and behaviors and The relationship between sleep disturbance and depression, anxiety, and functioning in college students)
Workplace cognitive failures leading to injuries (see Sleep problems and work injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Increases in aggression which can lead to interpersonal violence (i.e., intimate partner violence, child abuse) (see Observational and experimental studies on sleep duration and aggression: A systematic review and meta-analysis)
Beyond the research, actual reports of lived experience from local residents are starting to emerge:
“Drowsy at work due to lack of sleep [which] is very unsafe around heavy machinery.”
“I worry about how the horns are affecting my hearing & sleep. I am about 30 ft from the tracks. My ears have a dull ring now & are sensitive to every horn passed by. Please stop! I’m sure my dogs are having a hard time as well.”
“Our 5 year old son with autism is being woken up several times a night, then up for the day with the 5 AM front runner train. He does not function well on little sleep as he already struggles to regulate emotions.”
“I’m having to take sleeping pills to sleep at night even with a sound machine because of the horns. I don’t want to be reliant on sleep aids to help me every night.”
“It is very difficult for me to get back to sleep after being woken up. Usually around 2 hours.”
“I got shingles due to weakened immune from lack of sleep and stress. I get up at 3.50am to work at the hospital. Unsafe to drive due to lack of sleep.”
“I have multiple health issues and have been prescribed sleep meds and once woken up I’m unable to go back to sleep. This is all night long and my health is taking a toll.”
“We have three people in our home who deal with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, etc, as well as the same three who are on the Autism spectrum. Routine, sleep, and their schedules are very important to their mental health.”
“Increased frequency of migraines from constant loud train horns outside our home.”
“My toddler is woken up multiple times and is scared to go to sleep.”
“My daughter is not able to stay awake in class, for me also, it’s hard to stay awake at work.”
“I have lived by the railroad tracks for the last 4 years and before the horns started sounding had become accustomed to the train sounds. I have two babies under the age of 20 months. Our home is cooled by the use of a swamp cooler which means that our windows are usually cracked open during the night. Our property is right against the Union Pacific Line and they tend to blow the horn right outside of our windows. Between the four members of our family and our dogs, this wakes up each baby at least one time and myself at least 1 to 2 times nightly. Which turns into three to four waking moments during the night where I need to get up and take care of my children. Before the train was blowing it's horn my 5-month-old was sleeping 8 hours straight through the night. I am currently working over full-time and my husband as well. It is hard to perform appropriately at work as well as play with my children without feeling absolute exhaustion.”
“My young children are being woken up at night constantly and this cannot continue.”
“Our daughter is at risk for seizures due to a neurological condition she was born with. Sleep disruption is one of the triggers for seizures/tics. Overall we are all losing sleep and struggling to meet our daily tasks. It has been very hard for all of us. I feel it has caused a lot of anxiety for each of us as well. We are not sure how much longer we can tolerate loss of sleep over these train horns”
Given all of this, it’s no less reasonable to think that one of our impacted neighbors could be injured or die from any of the above, precipitated by sleep loss from the train horns, than for someone to be injured or killed in a train-crossing accident. In fact, the data and research presented here strongy suggest that overall public safefy is now lower than it was before the quiet zone suspension.
Even the FRA's own research has not found a statistically significant link between train horns and a reduction of accidents so the entire premise of the suspension is not on a sound fact based footing.
By law, train horn volume ranges from 96-110 decibels which is similar to maximum volume on headphones while listening to a rock song.
Ear plugs, white noise, and even sound blankets over the windows are no match for the long and loud train horns that reverberate at 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7am, resulting in major sleep loss and all the negative effects that flow from it.
Ear plugs generally have a maximum 33 decibel reduction capability under ideal conditions.
For many affected residents there is simply no practical way to block out the train horn noise.