Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Jeff,  <o:p></o:p> I might have gotten a little too much on the plate here, but I think you are following my point as are others.  In regard to the Nevada crash, I had posted a lot about advocating advance distant warning signals.  They would flash yellow when the red lights at the crossing activate.  Perhaps the timing would be adjusted so the yellows begin flashing earlier than the red lights.  The whole point of this would be to extend the length of the “approach zone” of the crossing from about 900 ft. to maybe 1500-1800 ft.  This is a standard tool in the traffic control toolbox.  It is for crossings with a high road speed limit.  The manual on grade crossings advises that crossings with road speeds of 70 mph or higher should be eliminated.  So, their advance-warning tool would surely seem appropriate for the Nevada crossing with its 70 mph road limit.    <o:p></o:p> But that was not what I had in mind when I brought up this lack of “yellow phase” in general.  However, the two areas of the topic do overlap.  For the yellow phase in general, my point was if you left out the yellow phase, it would not kill drivers, but it would have them running the red lights at times when they could not stop.  This would water down the absolute meaning of the flashing red lights.  It would lead to drivers regarding part of the red light timed warning to be a yellow light phase.  Indeed the North Carolina DOT paper I linked to in another recent thread finds that many drivers do regard the interval between red light activation and gate dropping to be equivalent to a yellow light.    So, this yellow light phase in general is to warn drivers that the signals are about to change from clear to stop.  Its absence can cause drivers to run through the flashing lights because there is not time to stop, but it would not get them hit by trains. This yellow light phase in general is absent from crossings with limited sight distance and higher speed limits according to the extent of those conditions.  <o:p></o:p> It is true that there is a full-time yield requirement at grade crossings no matter whether signals are activated or not.  However, executing that yield requirement means looking for trains, slowing down as required by sight lines, and assuming the fastest possible train.  And as I mentioned above, the MN DOT and Highway Patrol do not want people to slow down on fast highways to make sure un-activated crossings are safe to cross.  And virtually no drivers do it.  And I doubt if one in one-thousand would consider it a legal requirement because they naturally assume the signals will protect them.  So, if visibility down the track is limited, the yellow light phase is not there in any practical sense.  Neither is yielding to the crossing in case the signals fail to activate if visibility down the track is limited.    <o:p></o:p> However in wide open space, a driver does not have to slow down in order to look for trains because they will be visible from a long distance, and a driver is required to look for trains once he or she enters the “approach zone,” which is marked at its beginning by the RXR sign.  And therefore in such a wide open space, the signals will not activate without warning because a driver will see the train before the signals activate.     <o:p></o:p> For example, last summer, the Chief Information Officer of the Nevada DOT told me that there is no reason to slow down for the grade crossing involved in the Amtrak crash if the signals are not activated.  Once in the approach zone, drivers are suppose to look for trains and they will be able to see them before the signals activate.  <o:p></o:p> However, I contend that the Nevada crossing is one of those few where the approach zone is too short for the heaviest trucks running at 70 mph.  For that problem, you need the flashing yellow advance warning.  Perhaps it is also needed at fast highway crossings with adequate approach zones, but limited sight lines down the tracks.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag