Cedar Rapids police conduct railroad enforcement sting

CEDAR RAPIDS — The cab of a 121-ton Union Pacific locomotive, for most, is a different way to travel through downtown Cedar Rapids.

One observation quickly stands out from this vantage point: motorists often ignore the flashing track crossing lights and resounding toot of an approaching train.

It's a law that gets broken too often, sometimes with dangerous consequences, officials from Cedar Rapids police and Union Pacific Railroad said on Thursday morning during an enforcement sting.

'The crews are reporting more violation at the crossings,' said Michael Meyer, a senior special agent for Union Pacific. 'We hope to spread our message to stop at railroad crossings and make good safe choices.'

Meyer and Cedar Rapids Police Officer Randy Vest joined the crew inside the 1976 locomotive model EMDJP15 to run the line along Fourth Street and monitor the crossings. Three police cruisers patrolled the intersections to issue citation when Vest gave the word.

In about an hour and half, they issued eight tickets, Meyer said. Tickets cost violators a total of $330.

Meyer said train engineers are encouraged to report violations in order to identify problem crossings. In Cedar Rapids, crossings at First Avenue SE, Eighth Avenue SE, and 12th Avenue SE had higher number of violation reports. Those locations were the focus of the sting on Thursday.

In some cases, motorists would slow down and roll through the crossing, but others sped up or didn't change their driving pattern at all.

'It's always been a huge problem,' said John Clark, a 40-year train engineer. 'I've been lucky. I've never been involved in a fatality.'

Motorists must make a complete stop when warning is given by a flashing signal, crossing gates, or a flag person, and they can proceed when they can do so safely, according to Iowa Code. It's also illegal to pass a lowered crossing gate or when a flagman signals to stop.

Officers must make judgment calls for when to issue tickets because the law doesn't specify how close the train must be for it to be considered a violation.

'Usually when I pull someone over it's pretty blatant,' Vest said, adding officers are often left to make a judgment call.

In Cedar Rapids, motorists have to be more alert because many crossings don't have a gate to bolster the requirement to stop. Given the severity of tickets, Vest said he doesn't write many.

'It's so expensive, but sometimes you just have to,' he said.