(The following story by Jason Wells appeared on the Burbank Leader website on February 20.)
SOUTH GLENDALE, Calif. — About 30 law enforcement officers converged upon the Glendale and Burbank railway corridor Tuesday to clamp down on drivers illegally skirting at-grade railroad crossings.
Officers with the Glendale and Burbank police departments, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Metrolink authorities worked in unison on the operation Tuesday in what is a burgeoning countywide campaign to crack down on railroad accidents.
From 7 to 9 a.m., 38 drivers were cited for traffic violations at the railroad crossings between the two cities, 24 of them in Glendale, said Capt. Lief Nicolaisen, of the Glendale Police Department.
For the day, officers issued 81 citations, fewer than the more than 100 that were issued during the same operation last year, said Glendale Police Officer John Balian.
A citation for illegally crossing a railroad requires a fine of $321, but that doesn’t seem to deter drivers, even in light of recent railway accidents, Nicolaisen said.
“People just get in a hurry, but they don’t realize just how fast these trains are coming,” he said.
The term for misjudging an oncoming train is “looming,” said Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell, and it can have deadly consequences.
“You can’t accurately judge the distance of train,” she said. “They are always closer and faster than they appear.”
Passenger trains through metropolitan areas can travel up to 78 mph, while freight trains are capped at 60 mph, said Tim Nehrling, public safety officer for Union Pacific Railroad.
On average, two people are killed every day nationwide from railroad accidents, Nehrling said, highlighting the need for sting operations like the one held on Tuesday.
Across the state, railway authorities coordinated 45 targeted rail-crossing enforcement operations last year, up from just five in 2005, he said.
“We saw that the enforcement efforts were working,” he said.
Still, the hustle of daily routines often seem to trump flashing red lights for some drivers, said Sheriff’s Capt. Patrick Jordan, whose department is the lead law enforcement agency for railroads.
“Unfortunately, that’s when tragedy happens,” he said.
A 76-year-old mother of four was killed in January 2006 after she drove around the lowered crossing gates at Buena Vista Avenue and San Fernando Road in Burbank.
A Union-Pacific freight train clipped the leg of a 15-year-old boy in September when he tried to outrun the train near Fernando Court and Gardena Avenue in Glendale.
“They never think its going to happen to them,” said Francine Ruiz, a Rancho Cucamongo resident, as she exited a train at the Glendale station.
Even so, Tyrrell said she hopes the coordinated crack-downs drive the message home to commuters.
“A $300 ticket is cheap,” she said. “Your funeral is going to cost a lot more than $300.”