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Senators push grade crossing safety legislation
The Federal Government at its finest. It has always been against the law to stop on railroad tracks and to run into trains. You can’t legislate against stupid, you can only elect that. Where will they print the additional money?
Leave it to Congress to try to legislate common sense. The vast majority of grade crossing collisions that I have read about are caused by a public to is too intent in the “me first” attitude. Erring on the side of caution may cost you a 5 minute delay while the train goes by but that is far cheaper than risking your own life and that of others.
Maybe a barrage of graphic public service spots would help, make watching them mandatory prior to renewing your drivers license.
I agree with Messers. Achenbach and Hughart, that woman in the Metro-North thing was an idiot, plain and simple. You can’t fix stupid no matter how hard you try. As far as the elected officials and their new legislation even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.
How about spending the money on drivers education in public schools. Just in general. And also a requirement that drivers must complete drivers education.
Why did the woman do what she did? That is the question, you can make crossings safer but you always have the Darwin factor.
Ya know, more first graders were killed by a psycho with a machine gun in Newtown two years ago than those who were killed at grade crossings by trains. One set of victims were totally innocent yet the others were victimized by stupidity…and where does our government focus their efforts? Just saying.
Much cheaper to just pass legislation requiring half of existing grade crossings be closed in the next 12 months. Railroads would be 100% for that.
I believe this crossing had lights and gates. What else do they want to install?
The victims on the train were innocent.
How may fatalities are “caused” by the intersection of 2 highways at grade.
It sounds like someone is trying to buy votes.
“Many of New York’s hundreds of rail-grade crossings are truly accidents waiting to happen," If the Feds didn’t take all our money maybe the states could take care of their own problems.
Must be nice to keep spending somebody else’s money.
Senator Blumenthal, the guy who nearly got clipped by a train last year because he was looking the wrong way, is an expert on railroad safety? Gimme a break! Senator Schumer, the guy who never met a camera he didn’t like, an expert on rail safety? Gimme another break!
Maybe the senators ought to be in Washington instead of getting there pictures taken in New York
Instead of spending money on crossing they need to spend money on education to teach saftey around trains and train tracks. You can update a crossing but you can change stupid people, you need to teach them.
Two dogs who just love to bark down empty rain barrels…provided the press is nearby. I sort of remember when Blumenthal was mugging for the camera inside the yellow line and an Amtrak train almost took him out. Poster boy for rail safety…
I happen to agree with Mr. Hughart and Mr. Narita wholeheartedly and I think some kind of consideration to Mr. McFadden’s idea is worth looking into also, although I’m aware that many railroads have already looked into and accomplished it. Great ideas gents !!
Boy, that should be a doozy of a bill! Especially with Schumer being poster boy for rail safety and all. Maybe they’ll put something really intelligent in it, like installing elastic nets on each crossing arm that will throw cars 200 feet back from the crossing. Sheesh!!!
The biggest single safety improvement would be people using their brains! You know;it’s called common sense!
You’ll never touch this problem until you can get drivers to look, and obey signals. Somehow it never occurs to the political types that the car is trespassing on the crossing – trains do not leave the tracks to hunt down automobiles.
There are not sufficient funds to infest in passenger rail but once a tragic accident occurs, due to driver error, the politicos are “compelled” to put together legislation allocating 200 million dollars for improvements? Really? You can’t fix stupid and where is this 200 million supposed to magically come from? Always easy to spend others money!