Crime & Safety

More Drivers Caught On, Near Railroad Tracks

Plainfield Police Department's July check resulted in more than two dozen citations for crossing violations and other broken laws.

This month's railroad check netted 20 tickets for drivers stopping within a grade crossing and another eight for other infractions.

conducted the crackdown on July 20 at the Route 126 crossing, just east of Route 59. The department's been doing checks nearly every month since January in order to draw attention to the fact that it could be fatal to stop too close to the tracks, especially as the number of trains on the Canadian National Railway line starts to pick up.

The tickets issued this month were:

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  • 20 for stopping within a grade crossing
  • 4 for driving without insurance
  • 3 for failing to wear a seat belt
  • 1 for failing to notify the secretary of state's office of an address change
  • 2 written warnings for stopping within a grade crossing

The biggest point traffic Sgt. Eric Munson has said he wants to make is that the width of train cars often exceed the width of the tracks -- sometimes by as much as 5 feet on each side.

Therefore, if you ignore the road stripes telling you where to stop, even if you are not on the tracks proper, you run a very serious risk of having your car be struck by a passing train, he said.

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Drivers need to remember that trains can come through quickly and unexpectedly, and there may not be enough time to get out of the crossing area let alone off the tracks, Munson said. Also, if you're at a crossing with protective gates, they could come down on your car.


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