ORLANDO, Fla. — Big changes could be coming to railroad crossings in central Florida.
The Florida Department of Transportation is considering putting troopers at every railroad crossing to help prevent crashes, but Channel 9 found out the city of Orlando wants to use cameras instead.
Leaders hope the cameras will stop people from trying to go around the tracks or try to drive over them before the arms go down.
The cameras wouldn’t be placed at all 35 crossings, just the ones with the most traffic.
The idea is to get people to stop when the lights are flashing and not speed up before the crossing arm drops.
The last car crash in Orlando involving a train happened in January. The driver of a minivan tried to beat the train on Orange Avenue and Virginia Drive.
With SunRail expanding farther south by 2017, the city wants to make sure more crashes don’t happen as more trains pass through.
“When the light begins the flash and the arms are down, we are going to start filming and capturing folks crossing,” said city employee Mike Rhodes.
Any drivers caught going through the crossing arms would get a warning telling them they’re breaking the law and that such a violation costs $164.
The pilot program would run about a year.
Before the city could start issuing fines, city commissioners would need to change an ordinance.
Critics worry the cameras at the crossings will still have the same problems the city now has with red-light cameras.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s something the city needs to be doing at this point. It needs to focus on what’s broken right now, with the red-light camera tickets,” said traffic attorney Brian Sandor.
The city is still finalizing details with the camera vendor on where it would put the cameras.
The hope is once the contract is finalized next month, the cameras will go up early next year.
Washington, D.C has a similar program, but Orlando would be the first city in Florida to start a pilot program.
WFTV
