RailRoadFan.com

A foundation who blames everything, but the driver







http://www.angelsontrack.org/index.html

Talk about beating a dead............O, never mind. You can throw millions of dollars to upgrade crossings and it still will NOT fix stupid drivers. I see it every day ! And wonder if and when we hit someone will it kill us too ? EVERY DAY ! THEY don't seem to concerned about the train crews, do they !

Yesterday, I was watching trains in Ft Lauderdale, and the gates came down on the FEC crossing. The gates were fully down and 202, the afternoon hotshot was approaching, when a woman in a red car came down the street and started to go around the gates. She must have seen the train, which was only a couple hundred feet away, and heard the horn. She was already past the gate, and slammed on the brakes and backed off the tracks, just seconds before the train reached the crossing. A really close call. For some strange reason, everybody is in a hurry these days.

Love how they blame the railroads for not installing crossing gates at every crossing. Hey why don't we put traffic lights at every intersection. We stop and flag almost every crossing on the SMRS I lost count of the number of times people flat out ignore me or almost run me over because they can't wait for a 5 car train.

SousaKerry wrote:Hey why don't we put traffic lights at every intersection.

Or crossing gates at every intersection. Funny how people run red lights at railroad crossings when a train is fast approaching, but don't commonly do the same at traffic intersections. What's up with that?

J T wrote: Funny how people run red lights at railroad crossings when a train is fast approaching, but don't commonly do the same at traffic intersections. What's up with that?

Interesting point. I have only seen other motorists clip the last second or two of a red light, but I have seen people run thru RR crossings long after they have been flashing red.

Pixl wrote:

J T wrote: Funny how people run red lights at railroad crossings when a train is fast approaching, but don't commonly do the same at traffic intersections. What's up with that?

Interesting point. I have only seen other motorists clip the last second or two of a red light, but I have seen people run thru RR crossings long after they have been flashing red.

And with the train RIGHT THERE.

SousaKerry wrote:Love how they blame the railroads for not installing crossing gates at every crossing.....

A railroad in Michigan can not install any highway traffic control device without having been ordered to do so
by the governing authority (state, county...). That government entity must then also pay for it. After installation,
the railroad must, at its own cost, maintain it. In the long run the railroad pays much more.

This thread reminded me of a situation while I ran the TSB. I think it was sometime in the late 90s.

A grandmother who lived north of Howell (not far) called the RR and was eventually forwarded to
my phone line. Her grandson lived further west of the tracks than her and had recently got his drivers
license and a car. She said that he speeds across the tracks on his way to Oak Grove Road and doesn't
stop at the stop sign at the RR. She was afraid that he would die there. She wanted crossing gates installed.

I explained that I couldn't install them if I wanted to. Only the Livingston County Road Comm or the State could.
She persisted and I told her that I would call the County and support her request if she asked them to install gates.

She did and I did. The County and State declined because the light traffic didn't justify it.

Several months later her grandson ran into the side of a locomotive and died.

I guess the only one to blame is the boy. What a waste. I hate to see grandmothers cry.

Age induced memory decline may be a blessing.