NORTHWOOD, OH (WTOL) - It's a call dispatchers at Northwood Police Department take a lot; drivers getting stuck at the train tracks, for sometimes two to three hours, at Wales between E Broadway and Drouillard.
"You can drive three quarters of a mile down, get stopped, have to turn around," said Northwood Police Chief Crail. "It does waste a lot of time and people get frustrated all the time.
Two months ago, Northwood PD came up with a way to let drivers know before they go if a train is blocking their way.
They started a YouTube channel that actually shows drivers what's going on at the tracks. You can check out the live stream here.
"If you're going a certain direction towards 75 in the city, it's nice to look at it before you move and see if it's open or closed," said Chief Crail.
This isn't the only tech-savvy idea they've had to help drivers in the area.
A year ago, they installed poles with blue lights at multiple intersections that go off when a train is approaching so people who are already on the road will know to take a different way before even approaching the tracks.
"When it sees that train in that frame when the arms come down, it knows there's a train and that it's blocked, it'll then turn the blue lights on. And we're filming there 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Chief Crail.
