Spokane7
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October 27, 2009 in City
Police focusing today on rail crossing violations
The Spokesman-Review
Spokane police are teaming up today with enforcement officers from the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads for an enforcement campaign along rail crossings in northeast Spokane.
Officers will be watching for motorists who disobey crossing signals along the two railroads between North Haven and North Havana streets through 2:30 p.m. Both railroads operate 24 hours a day on their main lines through Spokane with busy grade crossings located in northeast Spokane.
Police Officer Teresa Fuller said violations at grade crossings are commonplace, and the dangerous behavior could result in accidents, endangering lives and tying up traffic and commerce.
Sex trafficking suspects released as probe continues 
westside on October 27 at 8:11 a.m.
“Who wants to sit and watch trains and who wants to bust drug houses?
edmitch on October 27 at 8:35 a.m.
Question: Rail crossings do not display a yellow light cycle like signal lights. What if you cannot stop in time?
Last Friday, in heavy rain, the railroad crossing lights went red in front of me. I tried hard to stop but my tires slid on the wet roadway. Several cars shot past me on my left. I ended up coming to a stop on the wrong side of the signal arm that came down, but fortunately, there was a huge gap between the arm and the rail line. The train was still far enough away and traveling very slowly that I could have gone ahead and crossed…. and would probably be cited regardless of what I did.
The law says we are supposed to stop, but lacking a yellow light warning and slick conditions, do we get cited if unable to violate the laws of physics and stop at the right point?
EASTSIDE on October 27 at 9:36 a.m.
The police are really looking for fundraisers. The noise to business owners, customers, and employees from the constant train horns should be illegal. My business would be fined if the noise level was that high!!! Just because a complete stop is not made at a crossing does not mean that it is an unsafe action. I can see if someone goes around a crossing arm or tries to beat the signal—but when it is just a flashing sign on a 2 block side street— it’s harrassment, and fund raising only not a safety campaign.
madscientist on October 27 at 11:10 a.m.
its near the end of the month. The police need to make the quota in tickets/fines. they do some sort of thing like this all the time. (sitting at the bottom of a hill,etc). Spokane citizens should be used to it by now.
kmmiller2000 on October 27 at 11:41 a.m.
I’m all for safety and all. But, I have a question. Why are the trains allowed to cross main roads during rush hour? Too many times I’ve been stopped in a LONG line of cars during the 4:30-5:30pm hour. Isn’t there something that can be done alternatively?
PlanB on October 27 at 1:22 p.m.
This is really important because of the daily auto/train collisions that occur. Wait… that actually doesn’t happen. But it could so passing out tickets will improve the safety of a non-existent hazard. Wait… That doesn’t make sense either.
The thing that gets me is that there is no one accountable for these stupid emphasis patrols. Contacting your city council or state congress people results in nothing. The police of course think anything they do is justifiable because of “safety.” I’m sure it’s fundraising for the police but it can’t possibly make economic sense overall when the number of police, court related costs, paperwork, and whatever other infrastructure it takes to fund all this mess is added up.
AlanB on October 27 at 4:19 p.m.
PlanB wrote: “This is really important because of the daily auto/train collisions that occur. Wait… that actually doesn’t happen. But it could so passing out tickets will improve the safety of a non-existent hazard. Wait… That doesn’t make sense either. ”
For the first six months of this year, there have already been 1,110 accidents in the US between trains and autos/trucks/buses/pedestrians. That’s more than 6 accidents per day.
Of that number, 19 of those accidents have occurred in the state of Washington and have resulted in one fatality. One of those 19 accidents occurred within Spokane County and it was the fatal accident.
All data from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Safety section of their website.
AlanB on October 27 at 4:24 p.m.
edmitch wrote: “Question: Rail crossings do not display a yellow light cycle like signal lights. What if you cannot stop in time?”
As a general rule at a crossing with gates, things are timed such that the gates don’t start descending right away. Therefore if you are so close that you can’t stop, and the gates haven’t started down, it’s unlikely that you would receive a ticket, although if you hit some cop having a bad day all bets are off. However, if you’re still going through as the gates start to move, then you should indeed have had time to stop and could well be cited.
Things get grayer at a crossing with only flashing lights. And at a crossing with no lights, the law says that you must stop, look, and listen. Failure to do that, could result in a ticket.
AlanB on October 27 at 4:29 p.m.
kmmiller2000 wrote: “I’m all for safety and all. But, I have a question. Why are the trains allowed to cross main roads during rush hour? Too many times I’ve been stopped in a LONG line of cars during the 4:30-5:30pm hour. Isn’t there something that can be done alternatively?”
The laws were written to promote interstate commerce and were based in part on the physics involved in stopping whatever is moving at any given time. It’s for this reason that pedestrians, cars, buses, trucks, and trains all stop for boats. Pedestrians, cars, buses, and trucks all stop for trains, without regard to the time of day.
And you can pretty much forget trying to get them to move the timings, in large part because it’s simply not practical in many cases, but also because someone else will find something wrong with that time of day.