LA HABRA : Officials Crack Down at Railroad Crossings

In an effort to decrease accidents and deaths on railroad tracks, police and the California Public Utilities Commission spent Tuesday cracking down on motorists violating traffic laws at railroad crossings.

While one officer rode a train to watch for violators, others monitored the streets, issuing citations for careless driving.

The citations cost up to $271. PUC spokesman Jim McInerney said the choices are “a warning, an expensive citation or the worst punishment: the death penalty.”

McInerney, whose agency regulates train operations in the state, said 99% of rail accidents are caused by drivers or pedestrians who ignore flashing warning lights and lowered gates. He said railroad accidents have risen fivefold in the past few years.

In April an 18-year-old man standing precariously near tracks in Buena Park with four friends stumbled into the path of a freight train and was killed.

Last year, a 21-year-old man trying to outrun an Amtrak train on his bicycle was struck and killed at Trestles, a beach near San Onofre. The same year, a 49-year-old man was killed by a train as he walked along tracks in Anaheim, officials said.

Other recent deaths include those of the two women who fell while trying to run across tracks in south Anaheim, the same site where two brothers died while driving around a gate trying to outrun a train.

In 1993, 160 people died and 127 people were injured in 491 collisions with trains throughout the state, McInerney said. More than half the accidents stemmed from drivers failing to stop, driving around barriers or crashing through gates, he added.

Many motorists, pedestrians and cyclists tend to ignore crossing safety laws, McInerney said. “Flashing red lights mean you are required to stop. Unfortunately, people think they have to hurry up and get across before the gates come down.”

To raise awareness of railroad crossing safety, La Habra schoolchildren, paramedics, police and volunteers will stage a mock accident today.