IL State Police Step Up Patrols for Rail Safety Week

By Jeremy Coumbes on September 20, 2019 at 7:55pm

The Illinois State Police will be stepping up patrol around rail road crossings for Rail Safety Week in Illinois.

Rail Safety Week runs this Sunday the 22nd through the following Saturday the 28th. ISP is partnering with local, state and federal agencies to promote vehicle and pedestrian safety around railroad tracks and trains.

In 2018 there were over 109 railroad crossing collisions in Illinois involving motor vehicles. These collisions resulted in 34 injuries and 17 fatalities. Additionally, there were 44 trespassing incidents on railroad property in the state causing 18 injuries and 26 fatalities. In 2018 Illinois ranked second in the nation in grade crossing fatalities and fifth in the nation in trespassing fatalities.

Interim Commander Lieutenant J.W. Price said that State Police Troopers in District 9 will be observing and aggressively enforcing all traffic laws at railroad crossings throughout the 7 county district, according to a press release announced this morning.

Price said that drivers and pedestrians who disobey railroad crossing and property laws will be cited.

In addition to enforcement efforts Price says, officers will be distributing literature to the public that contains rail safety information, in an ongoing effort to changing behavior around the rails through education.