Here’s another stupid driver. I really think red-light cameras should be installed at grade croosings. For some sad reason fear of getting a ticket seems to be much more effective than fear of dying.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/14554385.htm
They’re testing this in the UK at the moment at several sites.
The biggest problem is interfacing the cameras with the crossing equipment.
Here’s a pic of one near York, the camera (painted yellow) is shown by the arrow.
Of course there’s always the tired argument of “What if I let somebody borrow my car and I get the ticket?” Personaly if I knew somebody borowed my car and ran a grade crossing, the train would be the least of their worries.
I think its a good idea but in reality its a work around solution for a 19th century technology-the wooden smash board gate or blinking lights and bells. Stop lines are too close to the tracks as they are placed now.I think a photo optic or infrared system to detect cars perhaps even a trip “rooster” set back from the crossing could do two things-alert the engineer by visible signal for his protection and use of warning horn as well as additional loud and bright “violation” annunciators in front of the now pushed back stop lines or mounted on existing gates. A second-final warning. Probably too expensive. Cameras are for giving tickets to those who survive running the crossing-but its better than nothing.
Amen, brother. Satan would be blue from the cold and Hell would be frozen solid before they ever drove my vehicle again.
Also, I have a question. How often do you let someone borrow your vehicle? Maybe I’m a little strange, but in the 16 years I’ve had my truck, my wife has driven it 3 or 4 times, one of my brothers drove it once, and maybe one or two other people drove it once or twice apiece. I don’t like lending the second most expensive object (a vehicle) I’ll ever buy.
I don’t let anybody but family borrow it for just that reason. But I have on occasion let a sober friend drive it home from a party when I was in no condition to drive, but I was still in the car.
It could eliminate frivolous lawsuits from a deceased driver’s family claiming that the accident was the
RAILROAD’S fault.
I think that sounds like a great idea. With all the people that drive under/around the gates or just through the crossings, counties and states could make boat loads of money off the tickets they’d give out. chuckle chuckle
Do it will keep the city in cash also.
Seems like I recall someone telling about a place here in the states that did install such cameras. The first vehicle the camera “caught” was a police car…
Reference loaning out vehicles - I don’t think I’ve ever loaned my vehicle out. On the other hand, someone other than me has driven it back to the station after many an ambulance call where I met the rig at the scene. Worst that ever happened involved someone who had the wind blow their car door shut in the middle of a rainstorm. The firefighter who drove my truck that night had been among the first to arrive on the scene and was soaked to the skin. As I was (at least my backside) when I got into the truck later and discovered that he wasn’t as wet when he got out of my truck as he was when he got in…
That is the catch in the case for or against any unit of government doing anything, since everything costs money, somewhere, somehow. It’s unavoidable. If a railroad wants to control lawsuits from the families of people that drive in front of their trains, they can weigh the cost/benefits of the project and do the instillation or not. Governments aren’t being sued for grade crossing accidents, the railroads are. Here in the NYSSR, a locality cannot impose a fine on anyone, with any hope of it holding up in court, unless an officer of the law is there to see the infraction then write up said infraction. This is why there aren’t red light cameras here yet. The NYSSR will write up a law in due time to enable instillations. Otherwise, a citizens’ complaint (RR Employee) can be filed, but this will be caught up in a court system that is many weeks (at best) behind and then the party filing the complaint MUST appear in court in order for anything to happen. So it’ll be up to the railroads to put up the cameras and then file the charges against the owner of the car/truck/whatever. We know who will pay for that, now don’t we?
The city of Kirkwood is putting cameras at their crossing on S. Kirkwood Rd. They will be on all the time, Train or not. This is to catch people trying to beat the crossing gates coming down AND stopping on the tracks for a red light.
If caught crossing while the gates go down, its 3 tickets from Kirkwood and one from UP. 2 for running 2 stop lights, and going around the gates, and one from UP for trespassing
Yes, but it would be nice if the states and municipalities would just put up gates on all crossings to start with.
Erik
I think it is a good idea to begin the installation of road cameras at grade crossings. In particular the grade crossings that are highly trafficed by the railroad and motorists. In this manor people can be issued warnings or tickets for violating grade crossing laws when a train is aproching. These cameras might also be benificial to future studies on highway safety. It will also serve as evidence if someone has to present his / her case.
These cameras should be out of reach, over head on a light bridge or something. In this manor the camera’s wouldn’t be as easily accessed by people who might wan to vandelize or corupt the camera.
Why not install normal everyday red light signals at crossings? How many times have you seen people sit and wait for a green light even in the wee hours of the morning when no traffic is coming? Could this behavior carry over if red lights were used at railroad crossings?
Jay
Jay, I hate to break this to you but there is a reason some localities have put cameras up at some intersections. Some people would run any type of traffic control device, if it suited them, any where, any time, regardless of the risk to life and limb![xx(]
there are places this is already the case and it doesn’t always solve the problem. Most of the grade crossings of the ex-CNW now UP Harvard Sub isthis way where it parallels US 14. I still see people cross even though that when the light is red it is technically illegal whether the gates are down or not.
I’m all for the traffic cams. I think think most people would reconsider when getting a $100 ticket for crossing. And if you felt it was unjust you could always contest it. The video would show the truth.
The question I have would be if they’d be used to monitor pedestrian traffic as well? It seems that the majority of fatal incidents that have happened here in the Chicago area have been with pedestrians rather than motorists. If you know the lay of the land it is not difficult to understand why either. Personally I’d like to see them used for both.
Mike
I did try and get this implimented here a couple of years ago and was told that the main reason it wouldn’t work is that Emergency services are allowed to run red lights when attending an emergency, and the railway was worried about hitting a fire truck or ambulance. My further suggestion to make the crossing lights “absolutes” (I suggested a round black sign with a reflective A on it) would require changes to the road traffic act.
Hugh, I don’t quite understand what you mean about a round black sign with reflective A on it.
About the only thing that would completely prevent these bozos from themselves is to make it physically impossible to cross the tracks. Fences, barriers, nets, you name it.