The Weyburn Police Service is reminding motorists to pay heed to the arms at railway crossings after an incident was reported last Tuesday. A semi crossing the tracks along Highway 13, near the intersection with Highway 39, broke the arm.
“Unfortunately, the rail arm came down before the semi had crossed completely, and it broke the arm off,” explained Constable Lisa Robertson. “The semi was unaware that he even did that.”
Robertson said if you see the flashing lights of a rail crossing, which generally start flashing ahead of the arms moving, or if you see the arms moving at all, it is best to just stop, and not attempt to cross the tracks at all.
“You don’t know how fast those arms might come down,” Cst. Robertson said. “Those arms are really heavy, and will damage vehicles, and pedestrians as they’re walking as well.”
When stopping at a crossing, Cst. Robertson cautioned people should stop at the lines that have been painted on the road. If there are no lines, she recommends stopping at least a vehicle length back from where the tracks are just to be safe.
“You don’t want to get pushed ahead into the track.”
There were 20 accidents at rail crossings in Saskatchewan in 2023, one of which was fatal, with five others resulting in serious injuries.