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[quote user="zugmann"] So are you arguing for the enhanced crossing protection, or simply fighting against those that you perceive to want the death penalty for crossing violators? [/quote] Both.  In a way, I think the latter is standing in the way of the former.  But I am not just advocating boosting crossing protection methods and devices.  I guess you could do that by making the lights brighter, the bells louder, and the signs bigger.  I am more interested in the ambiguity and conflict in the overlapping laws and guidance, and the driver psychology as it pertains to grade crossings.   <o:p></o:p> There have been some interesting surveys conducted on driver perceptions about their responsibility at grade crossings.  And they have found that many drivers have a set of beliefs that are inconsistent with the law without realizing that.  And those beliefs have come about as a natural common sense deduction, so the driver may actually believe they are lawful.   <o:p></o:p> For instance, there is no yellow light warning for the activation of the red flashing lights.  Drivers realize that this is not logical to expect drivers to instantly stop should the red lights activate upon approach.  So many drivers assume that the red flashing lights are the same as a yellow light in a traffic intersection.  They assume that when the gates come down, it becomes, in effect, a red light.   <o:p></o:p> So a driver becoming habituated to this belief, may encounter a crossing with flashing lights, but no gates.  The driver might not know where the train is, and might not realize that there are no gates.  Then the driver might simply run the red lights because no gate is down, and to the driver that means that the red lights are equivalent to a yellow light.
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