Police Engineer Push For Rail Crossing Safety Train-Riding Trooper Turns In Numerous Violators To Kick Off Campaign
Most people don’t realize it: A speeding train takes a mile to stop.
Cars in the way end up like recycled pop cans. Pedestrians fare even worse.
“We’ll find the car in two or three pieces, and two or three pieces of the victim,” said Sgt. C.R. Kaffenberger of the Idaho State Police. “And in most cases, there isn’t any damage to the train.”
Police tried to drive that message home Wednesday, when an Idaho state trooper rode a train from Spokane, into Rathdrum, up to Sandpoint and back again. Anyone driving around railroad crossing bars was turned in via radio. Nearby ISP, Washington State Patrol, Rathdrum city police or Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies then did the ticketing.
As of Wednesday night, violators still were being cited. ISP dispatchers didn’t know how many were issued, but seemed pretty busy.
The push came in conjunction with Railroad Crossing Safety Awareness Week, declared by Gov. Phil Batt to run through Wednesday. Operation Lifesaver, an Idaho-founded, national train safety group, also is holding its regional convention in Post Falls. That ends Friday.
When the group formed here in 1972, there were 12,000 vehicle-vs.-train accidents in America. In 1996, there were 1,200, 471 of which were fatal.
“That was a tremendous number. They felt they had to do something,” said Marmie Edwards, an Operation Lifesaver spokeswoman.
In 1996, there were 51 train car-vs.-train collisions in Idaho. In those, five people died. Thirty people have died in those accidents since 1992.
Edwards said it’s not just tough on families - it’s horrific for the police, fire and ambulance personnel who respond.
“It’s pretty traumatic cleaning up after those accidents. It really is,” she said.
More and more people also are walking on railroad tracks, Edwards said. “These are people who are hunting and fishing off the trestle, people with snowmobiles … sometimes it’s just people who are walking along.”
According to the ISP, tickets for running crossing bars are $48. A flagrant offense could mean a conviction for reckless driving. That misdemeanor comes with a mandatory two days in jail - plus fines and the possibility of a suspended license.
“What we want to do is have a two-edged sword,” Kaffenberger said. “First to educate … and with those who don’t learn from that, we’ll give them tickets.”
, DataTimes