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[quote user="erikem"] <blockquote> <div><img src="/TRCCS/Themes/trc/images/icon-quote.gif" /> Bucyrus:</div> <div> </div> On one hand, you could say that the timed interval between the activation and the arrival of the train at the crossing is the grade-crossing equivalent of the yellow aspect of a traffic light.  However, the crossing flashers mean absolute stop.  So comparing a grade crossing to a traffic light, the proper analogy would be a traffic light that changes from green to red and yellow on at the same time.  It would make no sense.   The reason that this convoluted issue does not seem like a problem to drivers is that it is a conflict between the signals and the law, and most people do not know the grade crossing law.   James, you bring up a good point about the crossbucks meaning yield. That yield requirement might correspond to the requirement to be prepared to stop short of the flashers if they should happen to activate.  However, the yield requirement imposed by the crossbucks is a requirement to yield to trains, not a warning that the lights are about to activate.  Once the lights activate, the yield requirement changes to a stop requirement.    Look at this way:  The yield requirement does not necessarily require a driver to slow down.  If a driver has enough visibility to cross while knowing that he or she is not on a collision course with an approaching train, then that driver can cross at the speed limit and still be properly yielding to trains.  However, it would be impossible to cross at the speed limit while being prepared to stop short of the flashers if they should happen to activate. <div style="clear:both;"></div>   </blockquote> To brush up a bit on the law, I checked the California Drivers handbook with respect to RR crossings. The basic law is that drivers must not exceed 15 MPH when approaching a RR crossing unless the visibility of the tracks is greater than 400 feet or the crossing is protected by crossing signals. The handbook says the driver must stop when the lights are flashing. I would argue that in the case of where the lights started flashing as the driver was approaching the crossing, the driver would need to stop if it was safe to stop (same as the strict reading of the law with respect to yellow traffic lights). Given that a car being too close to the crossing to stop would clear the crossing in less than five seconds, this still gives on the order of 20 seconds before the train reaches the crossing. - Erik <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] The 15 mph requirement is interesting, but that is for passive (non-signalized) crossings.  I suppose that is to help enforce the yield requirement.  Authorities are most concerned with the yield requirement of passive crossings although it does apply to signalized crossings as well.  You are right that the 25-second crossing warning interval will protect the driver from a train.  So if the driver happens to run the lights as they start, he will be clear before the interval runs out.  But running the lights under any circumstances is strictly forbidden, whether the train is near or far, or even if there is no train, and the signals false activate.  Today, I have posed a question about this conundrum to someone at the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices.<o:p></o:p> A related question is this:  If a driver encounters a signalized crossing on a fast highway, and the crossing has limited sight lines down the tracks, the driver must slow down in order to properly yield.  There are a couple signalized crossings where I drive across Wisconsin that only offer maybe fifty feet of visibility down the tracks for approaching drivers.  They would require drivers to stop in order to properly yield.  Remember, that in order to yield, a driver has to know the speed of the vehicle he is yielding to.  Since a driver has no way of knowing how fast a train might be running, he has to anticipate the highest possible train speed in order to safely yield.  So the driver has to yield on those terms, and with a zero visibility crossing, that means stopping.  Stopping in the middle of a 60 mph highway with following traffic that might have no knowledge of the counter-intuitive yield requirement could be disastrous.    So I asked the MN State Patrol.  The first officer I spoke to said he was unaware of a requirement to yield to a non-activated, signalized grade crossing.  He did not believe that is required.  Operation Lifesaver and the FRA says it is required.  I took the question further up the chain of command at the MN State Patrol.  On more than one occasion, they would not respond to the question that I posed to them in writing.
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