What is the official protocol when you come up to flashing lights, but no train? In my area, it would be trains bebopping through town at 10 mph where you can see for a block or two in each direction, or freight trains in the country going 40 mph where you see for miles in each direction.
If I can clearly see in both directions that there is not a train coming, I will come to a complete stop, usually wait a few seconds and then proceed to cross. I don’t know if that’s correct, but it’s what I do.
Ideally, one would also call the phone number on the blue sign at the crossing to tell the railroad they have a false activation at the crossing.
Report the crossing to the owner in accordance with the info displayed on at plate like the one displayed below that can be found on the stantion holding the flashing lights.
Under that circumstance, it is illegal to cross if there are lowered gates.
Yep, I forgot that step.
Yep.
Here in Ohio, if the crossing only has flashing lights and no train is approaching or is stopped, you have to come to a stop before proceeding across. If the crossing has lights and gates, you are not allowed to go around the gates unless waved around by law enforcement or a railroad worker.
Kevin
I feel I should add to my original answer. You mentioned both in town and the country and I only answered for in the country. I wouldn’t cross in town for a few reasons - I cannot see far down the tracks, they usually have gates (I won’t go around gates), and of course, I’m more likely to get caught by a cop. I live out in the country close to a crossing I have to go over anytime I go to town. I can see for several miles in both directions, there are no gates, and I would have to go several miles out of the way to get around it. That crossing is also known to occasionally malfunction in very wet weather (it may actually be fixed now, I haven’t seen it malfunction in a while). So yes, I have crossed that one occasionally if it is malfuncitoning.
I’ve called in problems to both BNSF and Ellis &Eastern
Our city is 200,000+ people. I think there might be 3 crossing gates in the whole county.
Just to clarify as I understand it; If there are red flasher warning lights, but no gates:
If the red flasning lights are falsely activated at crossings without gates, drivers may pass them under certain condtions. I am not aware of those exact condtions, and they may also vary from one location to another. Generally they require drivers to look for trains, and yield to any that are approaching. They probabaly also include a duty to stop short of the crossing to begin the process of looking for trains.
However, for crossings with gates, the existence of gates alone is an absolute requirment that forbids crossing no matter what. So even if one stops and looks to see that no train is approaching, they are not permitted to cross if a gate is lowered; even if there is room to drive around it safely. I understand this requirment to be universal, whereas requirements to cross against false activation without gates tends to vary.
However, as has been mentioned, there may be an exception if a rail worker or police officer gives permission to cross in the case of there being a lowered gate.
I suppose the reason for asigning the most restriction to a lowered gate is that they are used at the most dangerous crossings. Also allowing drivers to pass lowered gates is complicated by the fact that it creates a right of way that conflicts with that of opposing traffic.
In Iowa, a flashing red light is like a stop sign. Stop and proceed if safe to do so. Many intersections may have a flashing red light with a stop sign. Some traffic lights, especially late at night or other slow volume times, will be set up to have the main route flash yellow and the cross route flash red.
For a railroad crossing, if there is no gate, only flashing lights, treat the flashing red lights at a crossing like a stop sign. If there is a lowered gate, then you cannot go around it.
Of course, Murphy is in one of them Dakotas so who knows how they interpret things.[swg].
Jeff
If you are in Shorewood Wi, beware The Ghost of The 400.
Flashing lights, no train. Or is there?
I’ve seen it opined that of the three lights usually found on the gates, only two flash, the third (on the end) is steady, thus indicates stop and hold, if you will.
I recently watched a driver pull up to an activated crossing, stop, look both ways, and then drive around the gates after he didn’t see a headlight. This was at night, if he’d looked more closely he might have noticed the large white flashlight moving towards him on the end of a boxcar at approximately 15 mph. We nearly hit him.
Considering you were making a shoving move over a road crossing, should a fusee(s) have been used to identify the leading end of the shove thus drawing more attention to the movement rather than just a brakemans lamp.
During my experience in Baltimore Terminal, we had two jobs that operated IN the street. When making shoving moves, which were lead by a caboose, the caboose was liberally illuminated by fusees.
Hey! I’m in the better of the two Dakotas. Fun fact- our area has problems here with drivers from Iowa. The northwest corner of the state is very rural. I’d have to drive 40 miles into Iowa to find a traffic light. When a lot of those folks show up here they feel like they’re driving in Chicago.
The old Santa Fe route from Lamy, NM, to Santa Fe, NM, passes not too far from my house, albeit it is a typical drive from home to the crossing, going north, then west, then north, then east to the crossing.
I was on my way somewhere, likely into Santa Fe, one day when I came to the crossing, where the red lights were flashing. That, in and of itself, was not enough to cause me to stop. My reason for coming to a complete stop was that the crossing arms were constantly going up and down.
A u-turn and a retreat which took me to the only other crossing where we live, allowed me to escape…
All advice given below, I concurn.
BTW in my area this happens and signalman will know what they face if when calling RR #, suggest the “condition” is called “pumping”. Gate controls are out of adjustment, minor fix.
Very important to report as RR will notify on coming crews of danger that cars might be passing through since obviously it is not working correctly. When signalman ends up fixing, they will report to the dispatcher to lift the slow order or warning. endmrw0311231510