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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A yield sign is probably the most misunderstood traffic control concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people believe that fundamentally, a yield sign does not require a driver to stop, and that stopping for a yield sign is therefore wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is true that there is nothing about the yield concept that directly requires a driver to stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It only requires them to give way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But sometimes the margin to give way runs out and then a driver must stop in order to give way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there are times when a driver MUST STOP for a yield sign.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A crossbuck alone means exactly the same thing as a yield sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in addition to drivers not understanding the concept of yield, driver behavior studies have discovered that only a small minority of drivers realize that a crossbuck means yield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Traffic experts see this as a safety problem for non-signalized grade crossings where the only traffic control device is the crossbuck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there is a nationwide project underway to equip all non-signalized crossings with a YIELD sign directly below the crossbuck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So then you will have at these non-signalized crossings, two signs that mean yield; one that drivers understand and one that they don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now the crossbuck at a signalized crossing also means yield, and if the signals at these crossings should fail to operate, that yield command of the crossbuck is deadly important to understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, if it is necessary to add yield signs to non-signalized crossings because drivers do not realize that the crossbuck means yield; then it should be equally necessary to add yield signs to the crossbucks at signalized crossings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, traffic experts do not intend to add yield signs to signalized crossings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here is the answer in my opinion:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adding a yield sign to a signalized crossing seems redundant to drivers because they easily perceive that the flashing lights already mean yield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If traffic experts and the railroad industry went on to explain that the yield sign is needed at signalized crossings because the signals can fail to activate, they would be highlighting the possibility that signals can fail to activate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that is something that the industry does not want to admit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reason they don’t want to admit it is that, with many grade crossing crashes, the driver will claim that the signals failed to activate when that was not the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sometimes when they actually do fail to activate, the railroad company will claim that was not the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lawyers publish material claiming that signals fail to activate much more often that the railroad industry admits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This propaganda gives general credence to the belief that signals can often fail to activate, and therefore crash victims who claim that the signals failed activate are rendered more believable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So failure to activate is a hyper sensitive and controversial issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Operation Lifesaver told me that the signals cannot possibly fail to activate because they are “fail safe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course that is misleading and ill informed, if not an outright lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p>
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