Snow and ice covers the streets and roads. The radio is on. The heater is blasting into the frigid interior of the car. The driver just wants to get to his destination quickly to get warm again. He goes over a set of train tracks without looking and …

“Too many people have been injured or killed over the years driving too fast during winter weather conditions,” said Ron Tindall, safety general manager at Union Pacific Railroad. “We want to remind drivers to slow down when winter weather conditions — snow and/or ice — are present on the roads.”

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, 271 people died and 930 were injured in 2012 in grade-crossing incidents across the United States. The U.S. Department of Transportation studied accident reports over a 10-year period and found 94 percent of public grade crossing accidents were caused by risky driver behavior, such as driving around activated automatic gates.

Omaha-based Union Pacific urges drivers and pedestrians to use caution near railroad tracks and offers the following rail safety tips:

• Expect a train and look both ways before crossing railroad tracks.

• Wait for trains and do not attempt to beat approaching trains.

• Avoid getting trapped on the railroad tracks by ensuring there is enough room on the other side for your vehicle to completely clear the tracks.

• Pedestrians should only cross the tracks at designated railroad crossings — where the street intersects with the tracks.

• Never walk between the rails in areas not designated railroad crossings.

• Avoid distractions such as loud music, texting or talking on cellphones when crossing the railroad tracks.

“Reducing your speed and allowing plenty of time to come to a complete stop is especially important near grade crossings. It can take a mile or more to stop a train, and by the time a locomotive engineer sees you on the track, it is too late to stop,” Tindall said.

“If you’re driving too fast for the slick conditions you won’t be able to stop in time to avoid running into the path of or into the side of a moving train at a crossing.”