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Amtrak Accident - Non-Working Crossing Signals

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[quote user="The Butler"] So why spend the monies on signs?  What would be accomplished by installing a "yield" sign on a signalized crossing when ninety-nine times out of one hundred the signals work and the public becomes numb to the "yield" sign? No malice, an honest question. [/quote] The reason YIELD signs are being added to non-signalized crossings is that it has been found the most drivers do not understand that the crossbuck means yield.  I am not sure that point is particularly relevant, however, because drivers do recognize the crossbuck as indicating a grade crossing, and most drivers do understand that they are to yield to trains.  So I think that adding a yield sign is attempting to solve a problem that does not exist for practical purposes.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Furthermore, the YIELD sign and its concept of yield is one of the most misunderstood and most violated of traffic controls.  One could argue that adding a YIELD sign to grade crossings might have the unintended consequence of causing drivers to be less cautious than they would have been with the crossbuck alone.  In many cases, the only driver response required by a YIELD sign is to look for conflicting traffic.  It is perceived as a weaker alternative to the STOP sign.  So whatever drivers think about a crossbuck, a YIELD sign might water it down. <o:p></o:p> Crossbucks are also provided at signalized crossings where they mean the same thing as a YIELD sign.  As a requirement to yield, crossbucks are redundant at signalized crossings unless the signal happens to fail to activate.  Even though most drivers know that they are to yield to trains, even if they don’t know that crossbucks mean yield, I doubt many drivers consider the need to yield in case of failure of the automatic protection at signalized crossings.    To address that issue, perhaps a new sign is needed that somehow warns drivers to always look for trains, and not rely exclusively on the automatic protection.  I am not so sure that a YIELD sign is the best sign to use for such a warning.  One could argue that the prospect of signals failing to activate is far more dangerous to drivers than their misunderstanding of literal meaning of crossbucks at non-signalized crossings.  Although signal failure to activate is relatively rare.   However, since signalized crossings do have crossbucks that mean yield, and it has been found that drivers do not understand that meaning, and it is therefore necessary to add YIELD signs to non-signalized crossings, it follows that they should also be added to clarify the meaning of crossbucks at signalized crossings.  Either that or remove the crossbucks at signalized crossings.
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