Railroad lights

General Discussion
22

At 5 mph your car moves 7.3 feet per second. If you were 5 feet from the gate you would be past it in 3 seconds. I find it hard to believe that the gate would drop in that short time.

3 Likes
23

I would like to remind you that it wasn’t me who was 5 feet away from the track. It was the car in front of me when it stopped for the lights.

And the gate didn’t completely drop when the driver in front of me stopped; it began coming down shortly after the lights flashed 2-3 times.

I’m not here to make up fabricated stories as doing so benefits me none.

24

VDCdriver thumbed your answer up which is cringy. I mean nowhere did I write that I was the car in front or that I had trouble stopping.

25

image

Here is an illustration.

The car in front drove past the RR “X” pavement on the road as he causally proceeded towards the track, entering the 15 feet zone where he would need to stop if the lights flash. At this time no flashing lights were on.

As he was about to pass the stop line ( right up there ) the lights began to flash and on the second flash his car was already past the stop line. Either the second flash or 3rd flash the gate began coming down. The driver then sharply applied the brakes.

Hope this gives a better explanation.

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26

If a vehicle is already past the stop line when the lights begin to flash there is usually ample time to clear the crossing before the train arrives. We have many grade crossings where I live, no accidents unless driver, bike rider, or pedestrian deliberately ignores the lights and gates.

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27

So the arm came down on his vehicle?

Did you panic and try to go around this other vehicle?

You obviously weren’t able to stop for the arm.

No it doesn’t.

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28

In a town near me, there is a somewhat unique situation of two sets of RR tracks that are separated by something like 50 or 60 feet. (One set of tracks is for freight, the other set is for passenger trains)

But, there is only one crossing gate in each direction. There have been cases where someone rushes past the closing gates, and–if they’re lucky–is then stuck in the middle when a train goes through. The unlucky ones were hit by the train on the second set of tracks.

29

I realize arguing with some of you on here is completely a waste of time. You will sit there ( being not the one at the scene and a witness ) and defend to your last breath that is this not so because so and so and so).

Just because 90 RR crossing works doesn’t mean 1 of them will.

I could post the link to a facebook discussion group of more than 200 comments of people talking about this particular RR crossing and you’d not find one comment in support of what you’re saying here “ because these people are actually witnesses “.

But posting the link would reveal too much of my privacy on this broad.

I’ll leave this discussion now and will not post another topic regarding technicality but rather strictly car parts.

30

Thank you .

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31

I have to wonder how many of those people have lodged complaints with (pick one or more
), the railroad’s managment/local police/county police/state police/municipal government/county government/state government/individual legistlators at local, county, state, federal level. I find it hard to believe that hundreds of well-worded complaints, directed to the right people, would result in zero improvement in the situation that you described.

3 Likes
32

And THIS is why I said I’m bothered by the fact no one has protested this particular RR.

The numerous complaints posted online, the many accidents. Why do you think I am thinking of filing a lawsuit.

33

Go ahead and file. Good luck. If you win maybe you can hire a driver that actually knows how to drive.

34

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll make absolute certainty not to hire anyone named Pvtpublic

35

I wouldn’t work for you anyways.

36

My apologies. Thought you were promoting yourself.

37

One more comment the I’ll shut up. We had a crossing near my house with a drop sign. Hadn’t been a train in years with trees growing on the tracks. The city tried to change the stop sign but had to get approval from the rr. Had a heck of a time. Police do not have jurisdiction of rr crossings at least around here.

I also travel a road that has two sets of tracks about a quarter mile apart. The one is rarely used and just has a stop sign. The other gets daily use and has signals and a gate. I’ve been there when the lights go on and the gate closes. I have had no problems with either, but I always stop and look both ways. The rr folks can be very stubborn when dealing with their tracks and it is up to them. Ask about their low bridge tha eats trucks regularly and the city has had no luck with the rr.

1 Like
38

Bing, no reason for you to limit your comments. I’m always open to civil discussion about a particular subject as long as there are no insults and bullying.

You are one of the decent contributors on this platform who actually try to help instead of insulting others.

39

A group of people in a specialized Facebook/Nextdoor/City Data/other internet group are essentially just talking/screaming with/at other group members–and nobody else. If those hundreds of people lodged well-worded complaints with the correct agency or person–instead of just talking to each other online–it is likely that some sort of relief would be the result.

Or, alternately, contacting local/regional newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations would surely attract the attention of a media outlet. Has anyone actually done that?

I’ll give you an example of what can actually happen
 if it’s done correctly. Years ago, I lived in a small condo development, and I was the President of the HOA. A large pharmaceutical company owned propery directly in back of our development, and one day the pharma people decided that it was okay for their executives’ helicopter to take a different flight path that took it directly over our homes–a few times each day, at an extremely low altitude.

Right now, I can’t recall all of the agencies/people that I contacted with complaints, but I know that one of the agencies was the FAA, and the bottom line is that I was able to force the pharma company to permanently alter their flight path w/in 3-4 months.

I won’t mention the name of the pharma company, but it rhymes with “quirk”. :smirk:

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40

This is why I posted this here. I wanted to know how I can bring the issue to the attention of the railroad owners. Because this particular RR does have a problem.

With what you just wrote here is all I would need to get going with reporting my concern to the appropriate people.

And see, you did solve a problem with the helicopter flying low over your residence instead of accepting that it’s just the way things are.

The thing is: The particular RR in question was taken down couple years ago and they installed new lights ( more warning lights more signs ). So it seems they did listen to complaints. But yesterday showed that the lights and time given for motorists to prepare themselves to stop 15 feet away from the track is still a problem.

Or maybe there are no issues. Maybe RR are now designed to operate this way — where the lights come on and the gate comes down a second or 2 apart ?

I look everywhere online to find this info and can’t find it. I would like to know how much time is given once the lights start to flash does the gate come down ?

41

I didn’t accept that “it’s just the way things are”, and that is why I contacted various agencies that might have some clout. If that hadn’t worked, I would have gone to the media.