THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 29, 1995 TAG: 9508290322
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
David Dozier knew he was in the wrong. He saw the flashing lights, signaling an approaching train, but he still drove his tan Ford pickup around stopped traffic and dodged the striped crossing gates.
He had done it before. But on Monday, at the Norfolk & Western Railway Co. crossing at Shell Street in Chesapeake, he got caught.
``The train was down a good ways,'' Dozier said after he was issued a citation by railroad police. ``Half the time I'd be sitting and there's no train.''
Dozier, of Chesapeake, was the second motorist caught Monday by railroad and city police in a crackdown on those who ignore warning signals at crossings.
It is illegal to cross the tracks once the warning lights begin flashing and the bells start ringing.
The enforcement was part of a joint effort by the railroad and police departments in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Suffolk.
The ``Officers on a Train'' program was last used against scofflaws five years ago. It will run periodically, officials said. A two-engine unit, with the law aboard, traveled from the railroad's Lamberts Point Yard in Norfolk to the Wellons Street Crossing in Suffolk and back.
``We're taking an aggressive stance to crossing violations,'' said Mark Torbert, a special agent for the railroad. ``We want to be the safest, most effective railroad in the world.''
The safety-enforcement program works like this: Marked and unmarked city and railroad police cars wait near the crossings while a city police officer aboard the train with the conductor and engineer watches for cars that drive across the tracks after warning signals begin. The officer then radios to the cars.
The warning signals themselves can trigger a driver's bad instincts, said Torbert.
``When they see those lights flashing, they try to beat that train,'' he said.
Trying to stop for a car running the gates can be hopeless, said engineer Ricky Hawkes. It can take a mile and a half to stop a train.
``You get a feeling in your stomach,'' Hawkes said.
Engineers must report violators and near misses. Hawkes, who has been an engineer for six years, said people try to ``play chicken'' with trains all the time.
Kevin Winkler, a special agent for the railroad, said many motorists unsuccessfully try to gauge a train's speed.
``Just like a jet airplane coming into an airport, it looks like it's going slow, but it's not,'' Winkler said.
A train usually takes only 20 seconds to arrive at a crossing after the warning signals begin.
There were six train-vehicle collisions, one involving injury, on Norfolk Southern tracks in Virginia between January and June, according to the railroad. During the same span in 1994 there were four collisions. During all of last year, there were 33 accidents, with eight injuries and two deaths.
Impatience usually pushes motorists to cross the warning gates, said trainmaster Darnell Wood Sr.
``They see it as something hindering them to where they have to go,'' he said.
Railroad police also are watching for trespassers. They issued a warning to a boy walking his dog along the tracks near the Liberty Street crossing in Chesapeake.
Torbert, the special agent, said motorists need to be educated about crossing dangers. He hopes the ``Officer on a Train'' program will send a message to drivers that violators will be caught and fined up to $500.
``This is an ongoing thing,'' he said. ``We'll continue to monitor those crossings where we're having near misses.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Chesapeake First Sgt. Richard Johnson keeps his eyes peeled for
scofflaws who ignore the warning signals of approaching trains.
by CNB