HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – As part of Rail Safety Week, the Havre Police Department is joining forces with law enforcement agencies across North America for ‘Operation Clear Track.’
The Havre Police Department will be participating in the event virtually today by posting social media messages promoting rail safety.
“The biggest issue we see is people trying to cross not at the appropriate places,” says Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich. “When you need to cross the train tracks, you’ve gotta go to a designated crossing, look both ways and cross the tracks quickly without stopping. Remember also it isn’t safe to stop closer than 15 feet from a rail. That and going around the gates, going through the red lights and going around the gates.”
The most common infraction in town is people trespassing on the train tracks.
“Whether people are trying just to cross the tracks, walk on them, or people trying to get on the trains or coming off trains. That’s probably the biggest one that we deal with.”
Matosich wants that these violations can be enforced by local authorities.
“Never walk on the tracks. It’s illegal to trespass and it’s highly dangerous. It takes the average freight train traveling 55 miles an hour more than a mile to get stopped. So be mindful of that. Trains, of course, they always have the right of way. Remember to cross the tracks only at the designated pedestrian or roadway crossings…Be aware that trains just cannot stop quickly. Never drive around those lowered gates and don’t get trapped on the tracks.”
In the U.S. and Canada, railway crossing and trespassing incidents seriously injure or kill more than 2,100 people per year.
