RR X-ings study

Here in and around Beaufort, SC, along the now-silent Port Royal RR there are many unguarded crossings that are still posted with stop signs. There are also guarded crossings with lights but no gates. Years ago, when trains still ran, I'd observed many times that the lights would start flashing and bells start ringing and people would continue to cross the tracks as though nothing were happening. On low-volume tracks, motorists get accustomed to there being no trains and they don't watch for the lights. On the other hand, at the crossings with stop signs, even though no trains have run in 3 years and the plants are re-claiming the right of way, people still stop to look for trains. I guess the fear of getting a ticket for running a stop sign is greater than the fear of getting killed by ignoring the signals.

 

Hope they put the stop signs on the right side of the track. Yield signs do no good. For too many drivers, that means speed up. It's the other guy that's supposed to yield for them. It's just like merging on the freeway = get out of my way.
It should make no difference if the words are there or not.
I STOP when I see a 8 sided sign! I go slow even if the crossing is dark. Chances are, the crossing may be too bumpy to go fast.
In the future, I wonder if solar power/battery backup could provide enough juice to have working signals in remote locations? For pedestrians, some type of bell could ring as the train approaches?

 

Believe such crossing devices are already commercially available and in use. The Alaska Railroad even uses solar powered track signals. Crossing signals have always had battery backup, but now the batteries are fed from solar panels instead of commercial power lines in remote locations.

 

As a railroader, I see the morons who drive around the gates on a daily basis. I also see the real dumb ones who slam on the brakes, stop on the tracksmg:, then back up into the now lowered gates, usually damaging the gates, not to mention their cars. Come on, if your already on the tracks, you might as well keep going.

Also as a railroader, as sad as grade crossing accidents are, we have to look at them as the drivers fault(which they are). Most of them can not be avoided no matter how the engineer reacts, it's all up the the car's driver. And most of us look at grade crossing accidents as a three day paid vacation, and one less idiot on the road:embarassed: