The Bossier City Police Department joined forces today with the Bossier Sheriff's Department and Kansas City Southern Railroad in Operation Lifesaver to promote safety at roadway railroad crossings.
Today's operation was conducted over a four hour period this morning as officers and deputies with each agency's traffic divisions were stationed near the railroad crossings that run parallel with Shed Road. The operation primarily focused on Benton Road and Airline Drive crossings. During the operation, a sheriff's deputy rode on a KCS train to observe motorist behavior at each crossing as the train approached. When a motorist was observed violating the grade crossing traffic law, the deputy radioed to an officer stationed near the crossing, who then issued the motorist a citation.
Officers and deputies issued a total of 70 citations to motorists for railroad crossing violations and 5 citations for non-moving violations. Representatives with KCS also provided railroad crossing safety information to violators.
Louisiana law requires motorists to stop at railroad crossings under the following conditions: (1) A clearly visible electric or mechanical signal device gives warning of the immediate approach of a railroad train, (2) a crossing gate is lowered or when a human flagman gives or continues to give a signal of the approach or passage of a railroad train, (3) a railroad train approaching within approximately nine hundred feet of the highway crossing emits a signal, and such railroad train, by reason of its speed or nearness to such crossing, is an immediate hazard, (4) an approaching railroad train is plainly visible and is in hazardous proximity to such crossing and (5) when a stop sign is erected at the approach to a railroad grade crossing.
State law also says no person shall drive any vehicle through, around, or under any crossing gate or barrier at a railroad crossing while such gate or barrier is closed or is being opened or closed when an approaching railroad train is plainly visible and is in hazardous proximity to such crossing. According to Louisiana Operation Lifesaver, 13 people were killed in railroad crossing crashes in Louisiana during 2010. The last railroad crossing crash fatality in Bossier City occurred in 2008.
Operation Lifesaver is conducted periodically with law enforcement agencies across Louisiana to bring awareness to the dangers of vehicle-train collisions.
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