Deputies in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, will issue tickets rather than warnings to drivers who violate railroad crossing rules during Indiana Rail Safety Week, according to local news reports.

The enforcement shift marks a change in approach for the sheriff's office. Instead of relying on verbal warnings to educate drivers, deputies will now write citations for motorists who cross tracks illegally — whether by ignoring active warning devices, driving around lowered gates, or stopping on the tracks.

Indiana Rail Safety Week is a statewide campaign that directs law enforcement attention to grade crossings, where the consequences of driver error are severe. A train cannot stop quickly: a freight train traveling at typical operating speeds can need a mile or more to come to a halt, which means the outcome of a crossing violation is decided long before a locomotive engineer can react.

Vanderburgh County sits in southwestern Indiana, with Evansville as its county seat. Rail lines serving the region's industrial and agricultural traffic cross local roads at numerous grade crossings, putting commuter and commercial traffic in regular proximity to freight movements.

The ticket-not-warn policy is the enforcement component of the week's activities. Safety campaigns of this type typically pair visible police presence at selected crossings with public messaging aimed at changing driver behavior. The stated logic is straightforward: citations carry a financial consequence that warnings do not, and that consequence is what changes habits at the crossing arm.

For rail operators, the enforcement effort targets a persistent problem. Collisions at grade crossings — the majority of them attributable to driver behavior rather than equipment failure — impose costs on railroads through damaged equipment, service disruptions, and investigation time, alongside the human toll of fatalities and injuries.

The decision to move from warnings to citations also reflects a common pattern in traffic enforcement campaigns: an initial educational phase gives way to strict enforcement once the public has been notified. Drivers in Vanderburgh County caught violating crossing rules during the week should expect a citation rather than a conversation.

Indiana Rail Safety Week continues with enforcement activities focused on crossing compliance across participating jurisdictions in the state.