Union Pacific and Dodge County Deputies are cracking down on drivers who speed up to try to beat railroad crossing gates or go around them.
Reporter Kelly Bartnick got a railroad engineer's view.
This is most people's perspective of trains: on the ground, as they roar by.
Inside the engine, Union Pacific conductor Ryan Hague has a different view, and what he sees can be scary. "We've seen everything. From cars running them, to kids on bikes to pedestrians on foot crossing them." Union Pacific safety advocated Carol Daley says trains don't stop quickly. "It takes 18 football fields to stop a train. It takes a mile." That's why Daley joins an army of people in Fremont Wednesday putting a train safety message in action. "Looking for people that are going to dart in front of the train...and they'll get a citation for being out there." For seven miles, we rode with engineers and police on the lookout for offenders racing through or walking in places they shouldn't be.
Calli Hite of Union Pacific says "we see drivers who may see a train and go around the arms even when they know to beat that train so that's one place we are trying to target." :
All this talk about crossing enforcement probably has you wondering just exactly when you can cross. It all lies in the secret of arms. If they're moving, that means you should have stopped. And you don't move again until they're all the way up and they've stopped moving :That is one of the biggest things you should learn from this story: Look, Listen, and Live. Hague says "most times you wait for a train, you'll wait a minute or two. Then the train is going to be past and you can go about your business." Or at least know that the next time you try to beat the train someone could be watching and waiting to ticket you.
There have been about 2 train crossing collisions in Nebraska so far in 2016 and there were about 30 last year. Union Pacific officials tells us they chose Fremont because engineers have noticed issues they want to target. U.P enforcement handed out one citation and two warnings Wednesday..
