NS intermodal hits another over a no trucks crossing.
http://www.ajc.com/news/traffic/train-and-truck-collide-gwinnett-county/aAYvMCer8unIAmmIsKlRAN/
Brain fart or GIS fail followed by brain failure?
Roads hugging the R/W line apparently won’t raise economically, thus the humped crossing signs, prompted by earlier fails?
I would guess raising is not feasible due to the roads parallel to the rail line being so close. Love the “STRICTLY ENFORCED” placards next to the no trucks signs. I guess they needed to add “By Locomotive” to those placards.
Also, interesting that coming south from the tracks, drivers go into a 3-way stop intersection with a couple of “KEEP MOVING” signs. The whole setup is a traffic engineering nightmare.
[tup]
Did you notice in the video that the crossing lights were still flashing?
Article says–> “…signs in the area say trucks are prohibited and show an image of a truck getting stuck on the tracks.”
So it’s last week sometime… I pull into the main post office that’s kind enough to have a 24-hour PO box lobby and I pick up my mail. It’s 4:45 AM… zero traffic… and I decide to go ‘out’ the ‘in’ driveway to save a minute’s hassle. Okay, yeah, sure… there are signs… but really, what were that instance’s odds of conflict? Well, I’ll tell ya. Not one, not two, but THREE cars all show up at that very moment, at that wee hour, and want go in the thing! Come on, man… is it just me this happens to?? Nope. Apparently it’s not.
Intersections like this (three-way stops, with traffic crrossing the tracks given the right-of-way) are very much the norm in our neck of the woods. I think the “keep moving” signs would be a good addition to the signage in some instances–I’ve seen some people nearly get plowed into because they stop for the subsequent intersection.
Then there is the problem of a pedestrian crossing the intersection in the way of a vehicle crossing the tracks (pedesrtrian is probably not in the wrong for crossing there–and the vehicle has to yield, according to the laws). If another car is closely following, one hopes he has somewhere to go!
From the looks of things, the hump in the crossing is fairly reecent, probably the result of upgrading the tracks…in other words, it may not have been there before, and the restriction could have been new. (Not making an excuse for the truck driver ignoring the signs, mind you!) One would hope that by prolonging the slope on either side, trhe problem could be mitigated.
The signs go up (or should go up) when the road profile 30 feet away from the nearest rail exceeds 6 inches difference in elevation from the top of the rail (AASHTO/AREMA joint common standard)
There are over a quarter million railroad crossings in the United States. At every one of them is an accident just waiting to happen.
This is true, especially is rural areas where crossings rely on the old white Crossbucks signs and have no gates or operating lights.
Its been a bad two days around Portland, Or. First south bound starlight hit TT yesterday, Then Nt Hood Santa train hit another that slid onto track, and now UP hits one today in North Portland.
http://www.hoodrivernews.com/news/2016/dec/21/polar-express-delayed-train-and-truck-collide-mond/
It’s a start:
Until the right to get behind the wheel and “get stupid” is dealt with, the “finer citizenry” will never comprehend that driving a motor vehicle on american roads is a priviledge and not an inalienable “right”.
MC, you are certainly right. I do not know if the fact that a driver’s license is a privilege, and not a right is stressed at all.
Incidentally, since almost all vehicles now have turn signals, the hand signals (which I think should be, if they are not, included in the manuals for driver licenses) should be known by all. When I began driving, few cars had turn signals, much way “four-way flashers.”
STUP DRIVERS HAVE TO LEARN:
Rule 1 . Cars versus a train, the train ALWAYS wins.
Rule 2. When in doubt refer to rule 1.
Ilinois starting Jan 1 will have the highest fines in naion for ignoring crossing gates. In amother lack of journalism the link states METRA will double the fines… That appears to be a rather big mistake but ???
The following is somewhat different.
Now what happens when the judge decides not to fine ? Pedestrians do not seem to be under the law ?
A train cut a semi trailer apart in LeMars, Iowa. The cargo was turkey filets, which ended up scattered along the right of way. The driver survived.
In one of the Train Magazines this year, (August) I believe, the map of the moth had to do with railroad crossings in the United States. I was shocked looking at the number of accidents for California. Since LA is car culture, we tend to have crowded streets, traffic jams, and freeway pileups more often. Any grade crossing in California that has not yet been upgraded is simply waiting for an accident to happen.
There looks to be several factors leading to that gaffe. One, it appears that METRA championed the legislation. One might (wrongly) assume that if METRA was behind the legislation, that METRA would be the one doing the fining.
Of course, that ignores the fact that there are hundreds of RR crossings in the state that don’t belong to METRA. The second big gaffe.
The third gaffe seems to be that the writer doesn’t understand who enforces vehicle and traffic laws…
And that’s a problem with a lot of journalists today. They have no clue…
Shouldn’t the thread title be “Stupid Vehicles sit in ONE SPOT Train can hit them”?
Afterall, it’s not like a train can swerve of the tracks to hit you then swerve back…
Contrary to what may prove to be popular belief… [:$]
I’ve got to say the “turkey filets” on the UP locomotive in the LeMars incident make for a somber photo. Might try that in my next horror film.