I really hate telling people this but ....no matter what you do...someone will find a way to circumvent the dang thing.
And some of these folks are suicidal....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
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Yeah...complacency or non chalance sets in..."in" being LA LA Land!
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Whenever you make something 'idiot proof', you only succeed in raising the level of idiocy.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Can't fix stupid.
What is really needed is real barriers...either heave steel or concrete...be either rolled across the crossing or raised from the ground so that nothing can penetrate the crossing within a realistic time period.
I have often wondered about red strobe or laser lights which could form a solid curtain across the roadway...it has to be intense enough or dense enough to so that it appears solid enough to be inpenatrable. Communities have to accept that they and their inhabitants have to be responsible so as to not need be protected from being stupid...but, we all know better....
I'm glad that they are doing something about this. Quiet zones are not very smart, people pay so little attention to things today and they need the blast of a horn to stay alert about their surroundings. Railroads were there before any apartments or houses were built. If you don't want to hear the horn, then don't move by a rail crossing.
I enjoy hearing them, that's part of railroading. I always wave when a train goes by and get rewarded with a toot.
NOTHING is built for pedestirans anymore?
Have you ever tried to walk to a mall?
Reality TV is to reality, what Professional Wrestling is to Professional Brain Surgery.
dakotafred Eliminate the whistles at the cost of hiring more traffic cops? I think not.
Eliminate the whistles at the cost of hiring more traffic cops? I think not.
It's more a matter of the city (or whatever jurisdiction) being serious about enforcement. This might take the form of having police presence for the first week or so, with presence stepped up when too many close calls happen. As BaltACD mentioned, this applies to pedestrians as well as drivers.
- Erik
erikem An obvious and not quite so easy solution would be for the city to step up enforcement of traffic laws regarding RR crossings. The dirty feathered guy is implying that if a city wants a qiet zone, they better be willing to do their share on enforcing RR crossing safety. - Erik
An obvious and not quite so easy solution would be for the city to step up enforcement of traffic laws regarding RR crossings. The dirty feathered guy is implying that if a city wants a qiet zone, they better be willing to do their share on enforcing RR crossing safety.
If this is what it takes, quiet zones are just too expensive. After all, the whole point of these zones is that they are supposed to be fail-safe.
One thing that appears to be frequently overlooked in the request, design and implementation of Quiet Zone protection is that motor vehicles are not the only thing that is using the crossing.
Pedestrians are the parties that are almost totally overlooked with Quiet Zone implementations as virtually all the protections are aimed at motor vehicles. While motor vehicle drivers frequently are driving in a 'zone' that is outside the realm of reality, pedestrians are even more likely to be zoned out as they walk about the world lost in their own thought.
There are two situations, that are superimposed upon each other frequently, the, in my mind, weigh against implementing quite zones - curvature and building built right up to the railroads property line. Since in most cases, the railroad spawned the building patterns for many towns and the railroads also followed the meandering twists and turns of creeks, streams and rivers - put the two together and you have sight lines that are virtually nil for all parties involved at the point of the crossings. Even though crossing protection may be operating, the motorist and/or pedestrian doesn't see the train so in their mind the protection is falsely operating and they then disregard the warning as being false and proceed over the crossing. While motor vehicles may be prevented from crossing by 4 quadrant gates - generally there is no such protection to prevent pedestrians from going in harms way.
The obvious and easy solution looks to be installation of a wayside horn.
Quiet zones are a mixed bag. If the local government and the railroad are both co-operative and realistic, then a well-planned and executed quiet zone can work well. If the quiet zone was imposed or established hastily, then safety will be compromised.
It's about time.
Quiet zones can be recinded. Second instance on UP that I'm aware of. The fact that UP called for the FRA meeting tells me this quiet zone is on its way to permanent removal.
The threshold levels have become a political football. This may get the message across that the issue is safety first, inconvenience and annoyance second.
I just came across this article from a Grand Island, NE newspaper; UP proactively has decided to ignore this quiet zone after some close calls:
http://www.theindependent.com/news/local/u-p-to-ignore-quiet-zone-after-nearly-hitting-pedestrian/article_19a8c676-a38e-11e1-8b90-0019bb2963f4.html
This will be interesting to follow.
Anyone know of a similar circumstance?
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