(The following story by John Homan appeared on The Southern website on July 31.)
MARION, Ill. — Two major accidents at railroad crossings in Marion in recent months, one resulting in a fatality, prompted a visit from Union Pacific Railroad officials Thursday.
In an effort to promote railroad safety, Union Pacific worked in tandem with the police department to monitor motorists at crossings. A two-engine train motored back and forth throughout town from 8 a.m. to noon.
Police Chief Gene Goolsby said about a dozen tickets were written to motorists.
“The focus is on education,” Goolsby said. “We want to reduce the number of train wrecks we’ve been having.”
Kevin Dawson, safety manager for Union Pacific, said he felt the exercise went well and will repeat the drill this fall.
“It’s all about raising awareness,” Dawson said. “We were in Benton Wednesday and Marion today (Thursday). We want to educate motorists about the hazards of railroad crossings. The idea wasn’t to write as many tickets as we could but to make contacts with the public.”
Mayor Bob Butler said he did field a couple of complaints from motorists and did think that one should not have been issued a ticket.
“If you come to a complete stop, look both ways and there is no train on the tracks, I don’t think it’s fair to write a ticket, even if the lights are flashing,” he said. “But we are all for safety. I guess giving the public notice of the event would have defeated the whole purpose.”