Drivers
fail rail crossing test in Arlington Hts.
Written
by Marni Pyke
You'd think after years of watching
pedestrians and drivers ignore warning gates and bells at railroad crossings,
Michael Meyer would be a little jaded.
Yet the Union Pacific Railroad
public safety officer remains optimistic that one bright, shining day he'll
encounter a scofflaw-free zone.
"Our goal is to find no
one," said Meyer, who recently spent the day at the Arlington Heights
Metra station looking for gate crushers. Forty-two police officers joined the
enforcement effort at train stations along the UP line from Park Ridge to
Woodstock.
How law-abiding were we?
Not so great, it turns out. Police
handed out 82 citations and 27 warnings for a smorgasbord of violations.
"It's a challenging number, and
that's why we're out there," Meyer said.
Violations ranged from cars parking
on the tracks, people driving around the lowered gates, and pedestrians
blithely ignoring all warning devices.
"There's numerous
excuses," Meyer said.
What the public doesn't realize is
that on the UP lines, there are about 70 to 80 trains a day, some traveling at
speeds of up to 70 mph.
"People don't understand that
trains can go both ways and one train can hide a second train," Meyer
emphasized.
If that doesn't convince
rail-crossing mavericks out there, how about a few statistics?
According to the Federal Railroad
Administration, 65 percent of all crashes in Illinois occur when flashing
lights or gates have been activated. The state had 28 fatalities at grade
crossings in 2007.
the UP conducts its surveillance
exercise twice a year and officials like to combine a carrot with the stick.
"We'll reward people for doing
things properly," Meyer said.