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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by zardoz BRANDON, FL - County officials plan to meet Wednesday night with a vocal grass-roots contingent of eastern Hillsborough County residents who say they are sick of the nightly blare of train horns disrupting their sleep. The two sides will discuss an exemption to a new federal law requiring trains to sound their horns at every public railroad crossing. The new law goes into effect in December, but allows local governments to apply for ``quiet zones'' at railroad crossings with low accident rates and a string of high-tech safety devices. Quiet zones are meant to reduce train-horn noise in residential communities without compromising safety. They can be expensive to implement. It is up to the government jurisdiction that maintains the road on which a crossing is located to apply for the quiet zones. http://brandon.tbo.com/brandon/MGB94I3RNXD.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know we've discussed this subject before; it just amazes me each time I hear about it. [/quote] In Fairness to all parties, Horns have gotten a lot louder these past several years. I am now living in the same house I grew up in, and NS has a grade crossing about a half mile away. I like trains, so the fact that a train horn is blowing, in itself does not annoy me by any means. But, back in the 60's and 70's, you could hear every train, sure, but you could carry out a normal conversation here, 1/2 mile away, and hear over the horns with no problem. You can't do that anymore, you have to pause and wait for the blaring to stop. In fact, just trying to quantify it, the next furthest grade crossing is about a mile away, and the horns at that crossing sound about as loud now as they used to at the nearer crossing. The horns are more piercing these days. Perhaps a reduced intensity horn for nightime hours (when visual crossing llights are more effective than they are during the day) might be a good middle of the road compromise? Or are we preparing to round a cultural corner here where the railroads will think it better to simply install plasma arc cutters at every grade crossing, to simply cut through whatever "civilian" debris stands in their way at grade crossings?[8D]
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