This was posted on another board talking about Amtrak. I though it would be pertinent to share here.
Today Michigan State Troopers are boarding locomotives to nail those who fail to stop for crossing signals. The Trooper on the train will radio officers who are staged near the crossings along the route with the information of the violators so they can make the traffic stop. As I understand it they will also be reporting people walking in the Right of Way also.
Today a Trooper boarded the Pere Marquette in Grand Rapids and will remain there until New Buffalo.
I don't have an article source yet. But I haven't found a false report on this board yet (with the exception of April 1st).
"HOLLAND, Mich. (WZZM) - Michigan State Police are cracking down on a dangerous traffic habit in West Michigan - failing to stop at railroad crossings.
Today, police are riding on Amtrak trains monitoring traffic crossings. Chase cars are driving along the route and officers are ticketing drivers who blow through railroad flashing signals or gates that are lowering.
One problem area is Holland, where drivers routinely fail to stop at a railroad crossing on Lincoln Street.
WZZM 13's Alex Shabad is riding along with state police and he will have a closer look at today's police enforcement program, tonight on WZZM 13 News at 6:00pm."
I've heard several radio ads on NPR over the last few days announcing this. MSP troppers where on all Amtrak trains while in MI. It sounds like from a good source that this was a regional event and that Indiana and Illinois troopers where on trains in and out out of their states too.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimthias/
GRHC - you know every night I can imagine he is in front of his computer screen sitting in his underwear swearing profusely and drinking Blatz beer combing the RailRoadFan website for grammatical errors.
Likely organized by Operation Lifesaver. What bothers me most about these special enforcement events is that it should not take special enforcement events for this type of enforcement to be done. Police officers near grade crossings in their community, when idle from other active calls, and upon hearing the sound of the horn, should take a gander at their nearby crossings to see if they can "tag" a violator.
RRTTF wrote:Likely organized by Operation Lifesaver. What bothers me most about these special enforcement events is that it should not take special enforcement events for this type of enforcement to be done. Police officers near grade crossings in their community, when idle from other active calls, and upon hearing the sound of the horn, should take a gander at their nearby crossings to see if they can "tag" a violator.
Agreed. And they should know that ticketing offenders of this would be a great way to make money. It's as common as speeding and probably even easier to observe.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimthias/
GRHC - you know every night I can imagine he is in front of his computer screen sitting in his underwear swearing profusely and drinking Blatz beer combing the RailRoadFan website for grammatical errors.
I know that most speeders will slow down to the speed limit if they see a cop or get tipped off about one near by. I wonder if the same would be true for people running the gates at crossings?
PerRock wrote:I know that most speeders will slow down to the speed limit if they see a cop or get tipped off about one near by. I wonder if the same would be true for people running the gates at crossings?
peter
One thing to keep in mind...I believe people develop tunnel vision when trying to cross a signaled crossing or go around the gates. I'm willing to bet they wouldn't even notice a cop sitting a 1/2 block away in front of them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimthias/
GRHC - you know every night I can imagine he is in front of his computer screen sitting in his underwear swearing profusely and drinking Blatz beer combing the RailRoadFan website for grammatical errors.
How about traffic cameras? Turn them on only for the first seconds after the lights come on, snap a pic of anyone that went across. But, at the end of the day, it's your stupid decision, and it may cost you your life
Other states have enacted "Photoradar" laws, and some municipalities depend heavily on the revenues from Photoradar tickets to fund their budgets. The registered owner is mailed the ticket. If the registered owner wants to fight the ticket, he/she can appear and show that he/she is not the driver in the photo and, in some states, must then "snitch" who is. (After all, the registered owner ostensibly knows who they loaned their car too!)
It is not a perfect enforcement system (Is there any?), as there are ways that people can "beat" it; such as a venetian glazing over the license plate, dark sun shield on front windsheild (illegal in most every state, but people still do it), registering vehicle in name of a business (no ability to suspend a drivers' license to get someone into court), or just ignorning the ticket for 180 days (since ticket was never physically served, a court has no proof of service to effect a default).
Michigan Department of Transportation has been experimenting with "Photo Grade Crossing" enforcement. I seem to recall they have a couple of crossings set up and that Michigan Legislature passed authorizing and enforcement statutes.
There are some places that do require a picture of who's driving, such as Japan, while most places only get the lisence plate. if they need a photo of the driver, but haveno way to get it for grade crossings or whatever, then change the law.
MQT3001 wrote:There are some places that do require a picture of who's driving, such as Japan, while most places only get the lisence plate. if they need a photo of the driver, but haveno way to get it for grade crossings or whatever, then change the law.
It's not that easy to just change the law... You need support for it etc.
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This law was enacted in 2001, but I haven't seen any widespread implementation. Municipalities would probably invest in "speed photo radar" before "rail crossing violation radar" because the number of people passing any location that they can "tag" for speeding is going to be exponential to the number of people they can "tag" for a grade crossing violation. (Yes, municipalities will put their own financial greed before saving the lives of its citizens!) I know of one community that has several mobile photo radar units. So many speed violators were going by that the units would routinely overheat from spitting out so many citations.
Interestingly, Michigan law only requires that license plate information be captured and that registered owner is mailed the citation. However, registered owner can file an affidavit with the court by mail saying "It wasn't me" to walk from the citation. (Michigan didn't think to require that the owner snitch off the alleged real driver.)
Just thinking about it, any "campigns" like Operation Lifesaver are pretty rare in schools these days. Maybe they should increase these education programs...make a few videos, include lots of wrecks and stuff to get the point across. Maybe include something like that in driver's ed--and put some emphasis it! (Is there any stuff like that in those programs?--I wouldn't know)
MQT3001 wrote:Just thinking about it, any "campigns" like Operation Lifesaver are pretty rare in schools these days. Maybe they should increase these education programs...make a few videos, include lots of wrecks and stuff to get the point across. Maybe include something like that in driver's ed--and put some emphasis it! (Is there any stuff like that in those programs?--I wouldn't know)
In Drivers Ed, we watched a variety of safety videos. Only one really touched on train crossings, and even still it wasn't much. More safety programs and videos in schools and Drivers Ed could really help out to get people to stop trying to beat trains.
RRTTF wrote:Likely organized by Operation Lifesaver. What bothers me most about these special enforcement events is that it should not take special enforcement events for this type of enforcement to be done. Police officers near grade crossings in their community, when idle from other active calls, and upon hearing the sound of the horn, should take a gander at their nearby crossings to see if they can "tag" a violator.
They need to start with ticketing themselves... I cannot count how many times I have seen cops (city, county and state) blow through some of my activated crossings without even touching the brakes while I was out doing my inspections. Bus drivers are next in line (had a driver with a bus loaded with kids blow through an activated crossing in Grand Haven without touching the brakes. She was fired later that day). I have also reported a couple fuel trucks for running through crossings.
On the other hand, Grand Haven city cops like to ask me to keep the lights activated for a few minutes while doing my inspections so they can nail one or two idiots.
GHSignalMaintainer wrote:On the other hand, Grand Haven city cops like to ask me to keep the lights activated for a few minutes while doing my inspections so they can nail one or two idiots.
What if these idiots knew you were doing a test and that no train was coming?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimthias/
GRHC - you know every night I can imagine he is in front of his computer screen sitting in his underwear swearing profusely and drinking Blatz beer combing the RailRoadFan website for grammatical errors.
