Why crossing the Seminole Railway on foot is both dangerous and illegal

Reporter: Amy Galo Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
Seminole
Credit: WINK

The Fort Myers Police Department claims to have seen more people cutting across the Seminole Gulf Railway train tracks.

Not only is this action dangerous, it’s also seen as trespassing.

“We have trespassing all over our railway from Naples to Sarasota,” said Seminole Gulf Railway police officer Micheal Christiansen.

Day and night, the railway sees plenty of traffic, but the concern arises from foot traffic using the train tracks as a shortcut.

According to the FMPD and the Seminole Gulf railway police, a formal warning will be issued if a person is found crossing anywhere other than a designated crosswalk or by the tracks.

“I think they’re naive to it. And that’s part of the responsibility that we take on ourselves, to educate,” said Christiansen.

If caught again, an arrest can be made.

WINK News spoke with residents of the area, with the consensus being that they had no idea crossing over the train tracks was illegal.

“They cross, walk through. Even kids. They’re setting a bad example. You see one person cross, then another, and you think, ‘Nothing happened to him so that I can cross too.’ And that’s where we’re all failing,” said Fort Myers resident Mario Lopez Gomez.

Another significant issue for law enforcement is getting people to understand that crossing the tracks is illegal is the language barrier.

Most residents in the area speak Spanish, which calls for establishing bilingual signage in hopes that the message will reach more people.

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