Spokane police are teaming up today with enforcement officers from the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads for an enforcement campaign along rail crossings in northeast Spokane.
Officers will be watching for motorists who disobey crossing signals along the two railroads between North Haven and North Havana streets through 2:30 p.m. Both railroads operate 24 hours a day on their main lines through Spokane with busy crossings located in northeast Spokane.
This is one of my favorite ‘stings’ area police do because they always catch lots of people and it’s a no-brainer that you shouldn’t try to sneak under the crossing arms or beat them coming down when the lights start to flash. Do you have a favorite ‘sting?’ Maybe it’s a crosswalk sting, a jaywalking sting, a john sting, etc. Let us know.
They should have a lot of offenders. Now that the Freya bridge is closed they have directed traffic through the Havana crossing where there are always trains. I see people crossing through when the gates are down almost everyday to beat the trains there. My boss got a ticket at the Freya / Sprague crossing today for making a U turn there.
The police department must have been getting a lot of complaints to hold an emphasis patrol in that particular area. They do the valley crossings a lot but I've never heard of them conducting one there. Or maybe it's just a way to bring in some much-needed revenue through writing tickets. Just kidding, I'm sure that never happens.
OMG. I remember once when I misjudged how much room I had in front of me (traffic was moving) during rush hour. Then, I ended up being somewhat in the way and a train was coming at break-neck speed (those trains in SW WA, hugging I5 go faster than you think!) I was honking my horn for people to get moving… they did, thank God and I got out of the way.
Needless to say, I am in grandma driver mode now when I'm near train tracks.