‘Metrolink Sting’ May Help Save Lives : Fining motorists and pedestrians who try to beat the train should deter fatal foolishness

We’re not sure what is going to have to happen before more pedestrians and motorists realize that the tracks are the wrong place to be when a Metrolink train is approaching. Perhaps there are just too many grade crossings, and too many people willing to take silly and sometimes fatal risks. There have been 26 deaths along the Metrolink corridors since 1992, with six of them occurring within the San Fernando Valley in one 14-month period.

One solution might be the billboards that Metrolink officials are adding with warnings printed in English and Spanish. But one of the best might become known as the Metrolink Sting.

On largely empty decoy trains traveling at a fraction of their normal speed, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies are poised, ready to alert patrol cars of various acts of foolishness. The Times’ Tim May notes that such a sting nabbed 10 motorists and six pedestrians in two hours for fines of up to $271. It’s entirely possible that those 16 might be smart enough to stay alive the next time a real Metrolink train crosses their path.

It is impossible to judge the speed and distance of a short Metrolink train that could be traveling at 79 miles per hour. Because they are much quieter than freight trains, it’s easy to think that the engine is far away and that you can pass the crossing in about 10 seconds or so, without risking much.

But in the time it takes the average pedestrian to walk 15 yards at a normal pace, the train has covered a quarter of a mile. A motorist might vacillate for 10 seconds on whether to try to drive around a crossing to beat an oncoming train. The engine will travel 400 yards in those few seconds. The brief delays caused by the trains hardly justifies the risk.

These stings might encourage greater safety. That’s why the Sheriff’s Department ought to try to conduct them much more often.