Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Choo choo, wham!

I heard on the radio yesterday a commercial for public safety. All well and good. This particular spot spoke to us about safety and the dangers posed at railroad crossings. A fine thing to espouse. Here's my problem.

For many years now we the public have been hammered with the idea that all railroad crossings are dangerous and the railroads should do something to make them all safer. Put in more lights, more gates, whatever. I have a completely different philosophy on this matter. It's not the railroads fault there are deaths at these crossings, it's the fault of drivers. In all my years I can't think of one crossing that did not have at least lights announcing the coming of a train. Most or all in city limits of medium to large cities also have gates. But does this stop the deaths? No.

When was the last time you saw a train trying to beat a car across the tracks? When was the last time you saw a car trying to beat a train? Happens all the time whether lights are flashing and gates are down or not. I have a crossing within a couple miles of my home and I routinely see cars waiting to turn into the cross street sitting on the tracks. This is one of the few intersections where I would say there is a bad design, however you don't have to be Einstein to know it's a bad idea to sit on railroad tracks in a car.

The problem is not design. The problem is not lights and gates. The problem is impatient drivers who try to beat the train. It's not a race but too many treat it that way. Trains are 100 plus tons of hulking steel barreling down two narrow rails. They're not stopping in fifty feet. Traffic laws give specific guidelines for railroad crossings but many simply choose to ignore them.

You can't blame the railroads for stupid drivers any more than you can blame firefighters because your house caught on fire. The next time you hear of a death at a crossing listen for what actually happened. I'll bet it's the driver's fault for not following the law.

15 comments:

  1. We MUST blame Big Railroad for this!

    100% to you on this one.

    BTW, I am now a faithful follower of Sleep Talkin Man, and they now also have t-shirts. What a great world we live in.

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  2. You need to come visit us country folks. Maybe 10% of the railroad crossings in our area have any kind of lights, let alone gates. You're lucky if you get a sign announcing the tracks' presence. The ony way to know if a train is coming is to look and yet no one does!

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  3. Visit the country folk? I haven't done that since Uncle Tubby's time. (And it may not be proper).

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  4. You need to move closer to civilization, sounds like.

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  5. I don't know what happened to the first comment I posted, but there are a few crossings in the "country" part of Pickerington that don't have anything but a RR sign. Don't get out much, do 'ya? :)

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  6. I don't think he goes to that part of town very much.

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  7. I try to stay in the civilized areas.

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  8. You put too much stock in civilization. We avoid it whenever possible.

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  9. That is evident by the places you have chosen to live.

    :)

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  10. Do they still have the "Look out for the Locomotive" sign somewhere near Wherle? It's my all-time favorite sign!
    We have tracks surrounding us - whistles, lights, crossing barriers - and people still manage to get themselves killed through sheer studpidity. Now they're installing underpassings on major cross-streets to manage traffic, but also to eliminate much of the pedestrian and car problem. To be honest, there are trains at all times of day due to the proximity of LA and the trainyard in Colton.

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  11. It's W-E-H-R-L-E, by the way. Have you been away so long you forgot?

    Plus, it no longer exists. It is owned by the City of Columbus, and I believe is a police training center.

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  12. Who cares about the school - it was already shut down when I was in high school and being used for a retreat center. What about the sign?
    Yes, I've now been in California for 19 years this time, and was there for 6 years the first time - officially half my life!

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  13. I have had no reason to venture that way in years, so I have no clue about the sign.

    I think you made it up.

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  14. Oh, come on! I remember reading sometime that so many people kept stealing the sign that they were talking about changing it to another wording. I want to know if they did! So, dear brother, venture to parts unknown and see what you find!

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  15. Excellent Advice!! Venturing to the unknown is much fun.

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