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dharmon-- Some excellent points. I think the best among them is the idea that the railroads should have done this themselves a long time ago. I can only speak about our front office, and admittedly it's mostly guesswork, but it seems that the attitude is "We're going to get sued no matter what we do, so don't make any extra effort". I can't say I blame them. I asked my conductor, a guy I've known for ten years or so, what he thought about this. ( This was just a few hours ago.) I knew I could count on him to be an even bigger cynic than me, and he didn't let me down. His response? " Yeah, go ahead and put tape all over everything. Know what'll happen? The first dumb s--t that runs into a train after that will say that he was confused by the reflection!" Worst part of it is, the dumb s--t will sue the railroad, not the FRA. And win. I don't think this kind of attitude is confined to the railroads, and maybe that's the real problem. Certainly, the railroads should have done something like reflector tape on their own. Had they done so, as you said, it wouldn't be an issue now. For all we know, some such thing may have been discussed, but then shot down on the basis of "Why spend the money? It won't keep us from getting sued!" And if, in fact, such discussions have occurred in railroad boardrooms, then how many other industries have had similar ones? OK, I know I'm reaching here, but I'm not reaching all that far. It goes a long way toward explaining why the railroads are willing to be seen as fighting against safety regulations. Again, I can't say I blame them, but I think I'd have approached it a little differently. We're now back where we started. The railroads should have beaten the FRA to the punch, especially since they knew this was coming anyway. By doing so, they would have taken away just a little of the bureaucracy's power over them, and at the same time appeared to be the good guys. How can you lose on that? As for the lawyers, no one wins there. The only good lawyer is one that's working for you, at least until you get his bill. You said it best: "The lawyers will find something. That's what they do." Too true. --JD
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