Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

I don't understand why it's such a foreign concept to refrain from stopping your car on the tracks. It should never be done ... even on a seldom used line. This, I believe, is a Union Pacific line and is used very frequently.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_13985821

Plus with a traffic light right by the signal too... From seeing it, I'd put the blame on the drivers, but I'd want to see this crossing for myself if I was in the area, since there's talk of some signals malfunctioning.

It sounds like to me the signals they are indicating malfunctioned were the traffic lights, not the crossing signals. I would assume the traffic lights and the crossing signals are wired together somehow, and the traffic lights are supposed to allow traffic to clear the crossing when a train approaches.

Any time I have heard of these type systems, they always seem to not function properly. They may work OK for awhile, but something happens later on and they don't function properly, causing an accident.

As the last paragraph of the article states, don't get yourself caught on the tracks. Make sure there is enough room for your entire car (or bus, or semi truck) on the other side of the tracks. Otherwise, don't cross.

Plus Rush Hour could be a factor in these two accidents. This interesection looks busy and rush hour just makes it worse. People ant to get home after work and think... Hey no train is coming, "DING DING DING!" shit... You can't blame it all on the railroad.