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Amtrak Accident - Non-Working Crossing Signals
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<P mce_keep="true">[quote user="Falcon48"] <P>[quote user="Bucyrus"] <P>[quote user="Mike O"] <P>Well, in this case it is the railroad's fault, since the railroad's employees turned off the safety devices. If the crew was at the scene waiting to see if the gates worked, they should have flagged the crossing. Remember, these guys apparently thought the gates were working when in fact they had turned them off. Pretty negligent. </P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva size=2>Certainly there is negligence on the part of the railroad, but the driver broke the law by not yielding.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How can this not count? The yield requirement is not suspended just because the signals are inoperable.</FONT></SPAN></P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P>Where do you get the idea that motorists have a "yield" obligation at a signalized grade crossing if the signals don't indicate that a train is coming? That's a new one on me. </P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>As James has explained in a post above, it is the crossbuck atop the flashers at a signalized crossing that means yield.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A crossbuck is equivalent to a yield sign.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So the crossbuck requires a driver to yield even if the signals are inactivated.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To yield, a driver must look for approaching trains to make sure there are none.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I sought and received confirmation of this interpretation from the FRA, Operation Lifesaver, and my state DOT.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>This might vary from state to state, but I think the crossbuck being equivalent to a yield sign is universal.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It might be that some states do not use a crossbuck at signalized crossings, and thus do not have a yield requirement when the signals are inactivated.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have seen signals without crossbucks in some of the youtube videos.</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>When you say you are surprised to hear about this yield requirement at inactivated, signalized crossings, I think that is the reaction of most people.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I was told by my state DOT that they have done surveys and found that most drivers do not realize that a crossbuck means yield.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They just take the crossbuck to be an identifier of a grade crossing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Therefore YIELD signs are being added to all non-signalized crossings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With that addition, there will be two forms of yield signs at non-signalized crossings; one that drivers understand and one that they don’t understand. </FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>I think there is a problem in expecting drivers to yield at inactivated signalized crossings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such crossings often have quite limited sight distance, and yet are on high-speed highways.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In order to properly yield, a driver must know the top speed of what he or she is expected to yield to.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A driver has no way of knowing how fast trains will be running on a rail line, so he or she must anticipate the fastest possible train, which might be 80 mph or more.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Therefore, to properly yield in anticipation of that high of train speed, with limited sight distance, a driver might have to stop at the crossing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On a high-speed highway, stopping raises a high probability of causing a rear-end collision from a following vehicle.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is especially true if a driver were to stop for an inactivated signalized crossing to properly yield when the vast majority of drivers are not aware of the requirement to do so.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva size=2>I asked the Minnesota State Patrol if they expected drivers to stop on high-speed roads to yield at inactivated signalized grade crossings where sight distance was sufficiently limited.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They would not respond to my question in writing, but one officer did tell me that he was not aware of any requirement to yield at inactivated signalized crossings.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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