Duluth Police Say Take Stops Signs Seriously

DULUTH- Duluth police say they frequently see cyclist and motorists failing to stop at these stops signs in Lakeside and they say it's an accident waiting to happen."Do you know why I'm pulling you over? You failed to make a stop at the stop sign that was at the railroad tracks," said Duluth police officer, Russ Bradley.Duluth police are out in Lakeside making courtesy traffic stops because they are seeing an all too frequent occurrence.Bradley said, "I've noticed lately that a lot of cars don't stop for the stop sign on the avenues when they approach the railroad tracks."Officer Bradley is worried if something doesn't change, the worst might happen."A lot of people get used to in the winter time, not having the train go through."With active tracks in the summer it's a different story."So a lot of people are in a bad habit over the winter. They don't stop for the stop sign."Since trains blow their whistles alerting drivers, what really worries Bradley is the possibility of a car–bike collision."And they are just kind of buzzing along the trail, if people have headphones in they are not going to see things and might not hear a horn honk until it's too late."So several officers are out stopping cars to let them know these signs aren't suggestions.The Lakeside citizen patrol joined in and gives kudos to kids who embrace safety by wearing their helmets.Young biker, Javon said he wears his helmet, "because sometimes you can fall off your bike and hurt pretty bad."Police say anything they can do to prevent an injury is their goal.Bradley says, "all it does is take one bad fall and one bump to the head and there's and a kid could have a traumatic brain injury for the rest of their life."Police are asking folks to pay close attention."You know if it causes you to stop and slow down and look a little bit more for bikes then we've kind of done what we need to do."Right now officers are being kind and mostly just giving out warnings but those warnings can soon turn into tickets like these which will cost you up to $180.Over the course of two hours, police say they stopped about 20 vehicles and 18 bikers for failing to stop at stop signs. They gave out 30 coupons for free ice cream to kids wearing helmets, and say 58 cyclists did stop at the stop sign.