running light, pt. 2

[cabforward]

watching long-haul trains approach and pass-by, i have focused on the running light, i guess the proper term is headlamp.. earlier, there were 2 fixtures: the top was a rotating lamp that moved in a figure-eight pattern.. i think it was known by some as a mars-flasher.. the second fixture was a fixed lamp that shone straight ahead.. the moving lamp was designed to attract attention to the train's presence, like someone using a mirror and the sun to send a message via flashes from the glare of the sun against the mirror.. the fixed lamp was to light up the right-of-way for the cab crew at nite..

i never did accept changes to long-used methods.. now engines have the wig-wag lamps near the running board, and it looks dumb.. the lamps are the same arrangement as in europe, without the 2 flashing on the bottom..

id like to know if deaths involving being struck by an engine have gone down since the wig-wags were required..

engies have bells, whistles that can be heard 5 miles away and headlamps.. crossings have safety devices; the only strong variable is human behavior: people duck/drive around gates, walk on r.r. property and even sleep on the rails!!
aparently, the drive for self-preservation is not strong enough in some to insure their safety, and no safety device will ever compensate for that.

[Anonymous]

Canadian locos have been required to use ditch lights for a numb;er of years. I don't think the US dictating the same has as much to do with deaths as it has to do with some bureaucrat producing some regulations. (To show their boss that they're on the job.) I doubt verty much if there is any appreciable or measurable difference in death rates along the US rails since this started. It also can be an ego thing. "Look, Johnny. See all those ditch lights? Your grandpa made them do it!" To which the awe-struck Johnny says, "Gosh Grandpa, you sure are important!"