Petal Police, Railroad Safety Blitz

PETAL, Miss. - Mississippi Operation Lifesaver (MSOL) and the Petal Police Department held their 3rd annual Railroad Safety Blitz Thursday.

Police greeted every driver and passed out information that will help people learn about rail road safety.

MSOL director, Kim Sloan said, "It's beneficial because a lot of people don't know that when you're going across the tracks at a location other than at a designated crossing, that is trespassing and it's illegal. We also just want to make people aware that they need to always use caution when they're coming up on the railroad crossings, make them aware what an advanced warning sign is, and that they should always look both ways and listen for the train horn when they're at a crossing."

"Railroad crossings are a dangerous place. People constantly trying to go around the arms. When the lights start flashing that means stop. It doesn't mean speed up. It takes five minutes. Is five minutes worth you life?," said Petal Police Officer, Sgt. Wayne Bounds.

There were two sites they were doing this at.

One was at the intersection of West Central and Hwy 11. The other was at the intersection of West First Avenue and Hwy 11.