Hi all,
Just came across the following video:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbhz8y_railroad-crossing-fail
If it wasn’t for the video, I wouldn’t be able to believe that stuff like this actually happened. But is this (running into a train moving through a crossing) that common?
Cheers,
tbdanny
Interestingly, the practice of instituting ‘no horn’ zones has contributed to this kind of accident, especially at night with an ‘impaired’ driver.
One that I felt was especially tragic (and illustrative of the stupidity of mandating silence when sound could have warned someone of impending danger) happened in California in the mid-60s. A doctor responding to a call to the local hospital’s emergency room was killed when he ran into the first freight car in a train that was crossing the street he was using. The locomotive had not given the usual horn signal because the town had recently outlawed locomotive horns during the hours of darkness,
The cruel irony was that the town in question was right under the takeoff path of an Air Force base that was launching a fully loaded jet transport every thirty minutes, 24 hours a day. Anyone who thinks that a locomotive horn is more annoying than a loaded C-141 passing close overhead at takeoff power needs to have their hearing aid adjusted.
Chuck
Crossing protection worked fine. I could hear the bell and see the lights flashing. Seems hard to miss a moving train in broad daylight but it happened here and happens in general with some frequency. FRA statistics may give you some idea of how often.
Mac
First, this video has been up here and discussed before. Second, the lights are lit, the bell is sounding, the train has already entered and is in fact more than half way across the crossing; the auto driver is either blind, drunk, distracted, stupid, or all of the above. Third, Quiet Zones are not really quiet as there are lights, and gates and horns. The idea is that instead of a train blowing a horn a quarter to a half mile away, the horn is only at the crossing directed at traffic at the crossing. And in fact crossing safety has been improved for the most part where Quiet Zones have been installed. The engineer still has to be vigilant…that’s his job…he just doesn’t have to blow the horn.
Railroad Crossing working as intended, stupid driver fail.
Quiet Zones can be revoked. There are at least two zones (in Illinois and Califiornia) vying for the dubvious honor of being the first to be revoked.
Nol all Quiet Zones have automatic horns. All the new ones that have been established on the territories where I work don’t have them. Most, but not all, have some kind of lane divider to keep people from driving around gates.
Even with the lane dividers, I have seen people drive in the wrong lanes to go around the gates.
Jeff
And when there is a collision, the headline will read, “Train crashes in to car” or something equally misleading. And the lawyers will claim that the railroad, the city, and the construction company should have done MORE to protect these poor innocent victims of railroad and corporate ineptitude.
Whenever a car hits a train in eastern South Dakota the same idiots are on the same message boards, crying about lack of gates. Usually the accidents are people with clear visiblity simply trying to beat a train, or talking on the cell phone, but somehow a magic gate is supposed drop in front of their car and prevent an accident.
Some how come they don’t use gates at traffic lights?
This discussion comes up all the time on rail fan pages. Something I once proposed was that grade crossings could be done in lights: posts on opposite sides of the road on both sides of the grade crossing could beam a red strobe or laser light imitating a gate comeing down and instead of leaving a line, could actually form a solid “curtain” visually effecting a solid wall. This could also be done from the bottom of a gate to the ground like a red skirting. Total hieght could be up to 10 or 12 feet. It certainly would catch somebody’s attention seeing a red wall in front of them!
May I ask where these two zones are located?
During the signal construction for the new Northstar commuter rail project; BNSF did use their horns to warn construction crews even though the Twin City suburb of Coon Rapids is a quiet zone. The NIMBYS and other whine babies just had to put up with it. I figure if Lake Forest Illinois can put Million dollar plus houses next to railroad tracks;my Minnesota suburb can live at peace with the BNSF too. The railroad tracks were here before the houses!!
Answer:
Because drivers do not worry about unpredictable delays from traffic lights.
Because there is a long evolved belief in the driving culture that crossing protection systems are merely advisory, and that drivers are allowed to use their own discretion as to whether or not to cross.
For years I have advocated a highway “STOP” sign at all railroad crossings, regardless of crossing protection installed. You know, those red, octagonal thingies, on a post, that say STOP, in white lettering? That seems to get motorist’s attention more than bells, whistles, and gates (except in California), 'cause they can get a ticket ($85.00, in Montana. Going around a crossing gate?: a warning, maybe).
I wonder how much money the railroads, and car owners, have spent putting “Scotchlite” on the sides of freight cars, so that loonies don’t drive into them. Guess I shoulda bought “3M” stock…
Hays
Red flashing lights mean stop. stop sign wont do any good if the cops wont enforce the law, it means nothing, but in illinois its 500.00 for going around the gates and was supposed to raise but not sure if it did but when the police run the gates also what do you do.
At non-signalized grade crossings, traffic authorities hesitate apply stop signs because it raises the risk of rear end collisions from following cars. By forcing all drivers to stop, it may or may not cut down on car-train crashes, but train encounters are relatively rare. Whereas, every car being forced to stop creates a potential conflict with following cars.
The motive to beat the train is unlike that of any other right-of-way conflicts with other motor vehicles on the road because none of those vehicles have the potential to delay a driver to the extent that a train can. That motive will not be decreased by the addition of a stop sign.
For those who want to beat the train, but are nevertheless willing to stop for the stop sign, doing so will simply worsen the odds of beating a train because stopping will take away up some of the time that could be used to try and beat the train.
I don’t know where you are driving, but I frequently see cars and, even worse, semi’s blowing red lights, sometimes as much as 5 seconds after it’s changed. The only way to reduce RR grade-crossing collisions is to install a more fool-proof gate system. Gates that only cover one set of lanes is an open challenge to the foolish, daredevil drivers to try to go around. In the distant past, gates covered the entire road + pedestrian pathway. I guess it’s the economics vs. saving the lives of careless or even foolish people.
If you are referring to my previous post, what does what I said have to do with where I am driving?
Nothing personal; only wondering if you also witness the bad driving practices that I see alarmingly often. So it is not surprising that rather foolish incidents occur re: autos, pedestrians and trains.
Maybe it’s time to put cameras on gates as there are on many traffic lights. Another possibility would be in the case of a bad grade crossing accident, for the RR to sue the local agency responsible for traffic enforcement if that agency had been lax about enforcing laws with respect to grade crossings.
A couple of points - California passed a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets because the state was worried about the liability from not outlawing riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
I find your thinking a bit flawed. Currently, vehicles carrying “Hazmat”, public buses, and school buses are required to stop at grade crossings, regardless of the crossing protection or signage. I can’t remember hearing of rear-end collisions because of this. “Stop” signs would become complied with, in short order, even by the cell-phone addicted “Yuppie” SUV drivers, for fear of ‘points’ on their driver’s licenses (again, except in California). Ever seen a ‘walking Yuppie’? Not a happy camper! I have often seen petroleum tankers stop at our branch-line crossing (within Restricted Limits – speed limit: 15 mph) on US 2 (non-gate protected, just flashers) and refuse to cross, even though the ‘local’ is stationary, with no one in the cab, and in plain sight, but happens to be over the warning system bond (no, not a good thing). The CDL-holders can’t take a chance!
Hays