(The following story by Eric Swanson appeared on the Dodge City Daily Globe website on April 22.)
DODGE CITY, Kan. — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s campaign to educate Dodge City drivers about the importance of railroad crossing safety regulations may have achieved its goal — but it also yielded 39 traffic tickets.
The railroad brought its “Officer on the Train” program, which is designed to promote railroad crossing safety, to Dodge City Wednesday morning. A Dodge City Police Department officer rode the train as it went back and forth through town between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., watching for drivers who either stopped on the tracks while waiting for the stoplight to change or attempted to drive through the crossing gates.
Drivers who committed either offense or other traffic violations were ticketed.
Stopping on the tracks or failing to stop at the crossing gates costs $100 in Dodge City — a $50 fine and another $50 in court costs.
In less than two hours, 11 people were ticketed for stopping on the tracks while they were waiting for the stoplight to change, said Randy Wells, field safety support coordinator for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Twelve people were cited for either driving around the crossing gates or driving through the gates as they were coming down.
Sixteen people were cited for other traffic violations, Wells said.
When Burlington Northern conducted its “Officer on the Train” program in Dodge City in 2002, eight people were ticketed for either stopping on the tracks or driving around the crossing gates.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, 57 collisions involving trains and motor vehicles occurred in Kansas in 2003. Twenty-eight people were hurt in those collisions, and three were killed.