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Even if we set aside the actual crash circumstances, I would like someone to try to justify the completely unreasonable predicament into which this crossing can place an approaching driver if the timing is just right.   <o:p></o:p> Say you are driving down the highway at 70 mph approaching that Nevada crossing, and the lights activate when you are 500 feet away from the crossing.  What are you going to do?  First of all, you have to decide whether you can stop short of the crossing.  So let me ask:  Can you stop short of the crossing?  Whatever your answer to that question is, there is a fair possibility that your answer is wrong.   <o:p></o:p> At 70 mph, the stopping distance is somewhere in the vicinity of 500-600 feet, depending on air temperature, wind, humidity, road surface, vehicle type, vehicle load, tires, condition of brakes, and braking control.  So the best answer to the question of whether or not you can stop in time is, “I don’t know.”  <o:p></o:p> Yet, the law requires you to stop if you can stop before reaching the crossing, even though you won’t know if you can stop in time unless you try.  But stopping will require maximum braking effort, which will probably occur just short of locking your wheels and skidding.  If in fact you cannot stop in time, the law permits you to keep going.  <o:p></o:p> So there are three possible outcomes to this dilemma:   <o:p></o:p> 1)      You attempt to stop short of the crossing and you are successful. 2)      You attempt to stop short of the crossing and you are not successful. 3)      You decide to keep going and not attempt to stop.  <o:p></o:p> In any of these three scenarios, you will spend several seconds traversing the 500 feet while the red lights are flashing at you.  If you decide not to stop, or if you try to stop, but realize you won’t be able to, you will have several seconds to wonder if the gate is going to come down in your face.  If you had decided not to try to stop, you will cross at 70 mph, wondering if the gate is going to come down a split second before you arrive at the crossing.  So as a backdrop to this dilemma is the possibility of getting killed hitting the gate.
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