Town won't regulate train whistles

SYRACUSE - By a vote of three to two, the Syracuse Town Council defeated an ordinance regulating the sounding of whistles or the ringing of bells on locomotive engines.

In favor of the petition were council president William Cutter and councilwoman Carol Koble. Opposed were council members Paul Stoelting, Bill Hane and Barbara Carwile.

The ordinance was requested by Ben Van Young and 137 other area residents who signed a petition requesting the ban. The ban would have made it unlawful for a railroad company, an engineer or other person in charge of or operating a locomotive engine to sound a whistle, ring a bell or permit them to be blown or run at or approaching a crossing within the corporate limits of Syracuse.

Two exceptions would have been if a crossing does not have an automatic train-activated warning signal or if "an apparent emergency exists."

The fine for violating the ordinance would be $50 to $500 for each violation. The Indiana Department of Transportation also would be required to permit the whistle ban.

Syracuse Town Marshall Tom Perzanowski questioned if everyone who signed the petiton knew what they were signing. Van Young said they did.

While not in complete favor of a whistle or bell ban, Stoelting said he would be more likely to favor a whistle ban at certain night hours.

Carwile said she lives as close to the railroad tracks as anyone else and it doesn't bother her. She asked if the 138 people who signed the petition were willing to help the EMS and fire department pick up body parts when there was an accident on the tracks.

Lights and gates are on the crossings, Koble said. If someone crosses anyhow, that's a chance they're taking.

"From a public safety issue, you're eliminating something that should be there," said Perzanowski. "We can't count on the mechanical factor (gates and lights), but you can count on the human factor (locomotive engineer)."

According to the study Perzanowski presented to the board, there is an increase in accidents where there is a whistle ban.

Wawasee School Corp. Coordinator of Support Services Bob Lahrman also is opposed to the whistle ban. In his letter to the board, Lahrman wrote, "As coordinator of support services for the Wawasee Community School Corporation, I feel it is my responsbility to oppose the whistle ban petition because it will infringe upon the safe transportation of school children."

He wrote that bus drivers must stop at all railroad crossings and listen for oncoming train traffic before crossing the tracks. The train whistle can be heard through fog, cloudy, rainy or snowy conditions. The lights and crossing arms, however, are known to malfunction from time to time.

"If one whistle saves one life, that's worth it," said fire department chief Larry Hunter.