Drivers edge too close to tracks

Deborah Wojnicz watched, alarmed, as drivers cozied up to the railroad tracks while waiting for a red light to change.

The bumpers of some cars hung over the tracks. Other drivers stopped less than a car length away, said Wojnicz, the Federal Railroad Administration manager who deals with safety at railroad crossings.

“The trains are much wider than the tracks,” Wojnicz said.

“(Drivers) could get clipped by a wide load or by the equipment itself.”

After snapping pictures of drivers stopped on the tracks at Appleway Boulevard and Dishman-Mica Road, Wojnicz called Spokane Valley city officials and police.

Officers will begin pulling over drivers who stop on the tracks next week, said Sgt. Martin O’Leary, of the Spokane Valley Police Department. If officers don’t notice an improvement in driver behavior after giving warnings, officers will begin issuing $101 citations, O’Leary said.

Drivers waiting for a light to change need to stop before the red and white gates, which drop when a train comes through.

Stopping near or on the tracks is illegal, O’Leary said.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, trains hit cars at railroad crossings in Spokane County five times between 2001 and 2003.

Appleway has seven lanes – including turn lanes – at the tracks.

There are signs on each side of Appleway that remind drivers not to block the tracks. Spokane Valley will look at whether the wide thoroughfare needs another sign in the median, said Spokane Valley traffic engineer Don Ramsey.

The Union Pacific spur tracks cross Appleway and head south parallel to Dishman-Mica Road.

They don’t get much use. Wojnicz said only a few trains pass by each day.

But drivers who stop close to the tracks are developing a habit that could prove fatal at busier railroad crossings, Wojnicz said.

“If they’re doing it here, they’re not going to even think twice about doing it elsewhere,” Wojnicz said.