Lake County, East Chicago - -
This enforcement blitz took place on November 18 from 8:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. in East Chicago, Indiana with a joint effort of the Indiana State Police, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Police, Canadian National Railroad Police and NICTD Transit Police. Troopers and Officers focused on various grade crossing violations involving both passenger and commercial motor vehicles (HAZ-MAT). The area of grade crossing enforcement involved crossing owned and operated by Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, Canadian National Railroad and CSXT Railroad.
This particular area was selected due to the high volume of Commercial Motor Vehicle with HAZ-MAT placards on Chicago Avenue & Kennedy Avenue (East Chicago, IN). Furthermore the traffic control light was recently removed on Chicago Avenue, thus requiring all HAZ-MAT CMV to come to a complete stop. While stopped, trucks are also required to look and listen for an approaching train at the grade crossing through either an open window or door. This area is also problematic with passenger cars disregarding the stop pavement markings on the roadway and proceeding passed the markings while stopping on top of the grade crossing or within 15 feet of the nearest rail as prohibited by Indiana Code.
This multi-agency enforcement effort resulted in the following:'
25 Citations
26 Written Warnings
8- Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspections
24- Commercial Motor Vehicle violations
1 – Criminal Arrest (License Violation)
Tpr. Nabhan would like to remind the public that "obeying crossing control devices at railroad crossings is crucial to eliminating preventable car/train crashes. It is a goal of the Indiana State Police as well as the above mentioned RailRoad Police Departments to eliminate preventable car vs. train collisions. Each year these preventable crashes result in serious bodily injury crashes as well as the tragic loss of life."
*photo 1- Tpr. Raupp on a traffic stop of a Commercial Motor Vehicle
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Master Trooper Glen Fifield
Indiana State Police
Lowell Post
