The History of Victor's Crossing

On May 25, 2004, eleven year old Victor Olivera was struck and fatally injured by a Metra commuter train at the Glenview Road crossing in downtown Glenview, Illinois, in the presence of many of his classmates and friends. That evening a memorial was established by the tracks to remind pedestrians that the Glenview Road crossing had no pedestrian gates and was unsafe.

Victor's family and friends started meeting at the Olivera family dining room table trying to understand the magnitude of this loss. This group concluded that they must act to save the lives of other innocent pedestrians and children from unsafe pedestrian railroad crossings.

Immediately following the accident, Victor's parents and other adults from the community took it upon themselves to serve as crossing guards at the dangerous railroad crossing. Within days, the local police department responded by assigning their own crossing guards to assist children while crossing the tracks to and from school. In addition, the Olivera family and friends began organizing to determine what could be done to get pedestrian gates installed at the crossing. They contacted public officials and the Illinois Commerce Commission demanding that they act immediately to install pedestrian crossing gates at the Glenview Road crossing. The Associated Press, and local TV and newspapers began to follow these events with interest.

The initial response was that it would take at least two years to get pedestrian gates installed. That was not acceptable to this community which had suffered such a loss and understood first hand the risk to its children who crossed the tracks many times a day. Thousands of residents, children and adults, organized a rally and marched from Victor's school, across the railroad tracks to a local park to raise awareness of the dangers of the crossing. They demanded that officials immediately install pedestrian crossing gates at the Glenview crossing.

After the rally, many people made telephone calls and wrote letters to public officials and railroad executives, telling them that they were not willing to wait two years for pedestrian gates, and demanding that the pedestrian gates be installed immediately. Pedestrian crossing gates were installed at the Glenview Road crossing within six weeks of Victor's death.

Mission Statement

Victor's Crossing was formed to educate the public about the dangers of pedestrian railroad crossings and to raise awareness about the need for adequate pedestrian safety devices, especially pedestrian gates, at railroad crossings. Victor's Crossing is an Illinois non-profit organization exempt from federal taxes under IRC 501(c) (3).

The mission of Victor's Crossing is to promote and improve rail safety in Illinois for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Officers and Directors

The officers and directors of Victor's Crossing are as follows:

Julie S. Fischer
Patrick J. Foley
Mary Gomez Nickele
Arturo Olivera, Jr., M.D.
Teresa Robaina Olivera
Betty Olivera Powell

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to Vicki Froderman for her artistry in the creation of the logo and design work. We are also grateful to Ed Kruschka and the staff at Virtuocities, Inc. for their support and assistance in the design and management of this website. Most of all, thank you to the many supporters of Victor's Crossing. Your extraordinary efforts led to the installation of pedestrian gates at the Glenview Crossing. It has also inspired the continued work of Victor's Crossing as it seeks to educate the public and protect pedestrians from unsafe railroad crossings in Illinois.