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Next month, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will begin holding a series of public meetings nationwide to address ways to improve safety at private grade crossings. The first meeting will be held in Fort Snelling, Minn. Other meetings are tentatively scheduled for North Carolina, California and Louisiana.

Each year, about 400 accidents causing between 30 and 40 fatalities occur at more than 94,000 U.S. private crossings. FRA officials are seeking comments on whether state or federal governments should assume a greater role in setting safety standards.

“The lack of a common safety approach at private crossings unnecessarily puts certain motorists at risk,” said FRA Administrator Joseph Boardman in a prepared statement.

Improving private crossing safety is one of the primary goals of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Highway-Rail Grade Crossing and Trespass Prevention Action Plan, which was launched issued in 2004.