I was halfway thru before I realized I'd already read this.
I believe they're installing 4-quadrant gates on that section, which should mostly eliminate those incidents caused by driving around the gate. That leaves drivers entering upon the tracks when traffic prevents them from clearing, oblivious pedestrians, and suicides.
There will certainly be quad gates, and even around Melbourne, I've seen pedestrian gates. But I don't think that the pedestrian gates are capable of getting a determined soul from taking their life, or even a not-so-determined drunk person stumbling from the numerous bars that are on either side of the tracks. Not to mention, unless they aren't done yet, no adequate fencing along the ROW that I've seen.
Not 120 mph. 110 mph. You cannot legally go 120 mph in the US unless you have a sealed corridor with any grade crossing present protected by more or less impenetrable physical barriers across the road when gates are down. These would be similar to those used at airports to protect entry into the secured zone.
Yes. They are all being equipped with intrusion detectors interlinked with the I-ETMS+ system. But they are of limited help if the intrusion happens too close to the train's arrival at the crossing. But at least those that are trying to beat a 4 quad gate and get stuck on the track will probably trigger things early enough since the gates come down quite a bit before the train arrives.
Has there been discussions about quad gates actually trapping cars on the tracks because the timing of the quads end up trapping cars on the rails ( and the driver doesn’t want to break the gate to get out)? Are they a greater safety or creating more danger? Why do I ask, many YouTube rail crossing fails with quads seem to follow this trend. The driver gets themselves trapped, they don’t want to run the gate to get out (really?) and end up getting smashed by the train.
It is possible and recommended to link the closing of the exit gate to the vehicle detection system.
I would support all of that but I think the bigger issue is that we set the bar too low for acquiring licenses when we’re young and keeping them when we're old. Florida seems to be a perfect storm of spring breakers and retirees.
If we go by social media videos it seems we're not doing nearly enough to train drivers on the seemingly obvious dangers and solutions around them. So many dash cam videos have left me shaking my head in confused disbelief. That being said I’ve run into my own problems when a silent (no horn) four-gate crossing malfunctioned and I realized the builders never implemented a solution for leaving the waiting zone without breaking through the gates and fouling the tracks.
Definition of PAB: Private Activity Bond (PAB)
It is behind a paywall. After turning off my ad blocker, I got this:
That's different from what I got once I turned my adblocker off. Such is the internet! I also delete the website cookies and cached stuff too. Maybe that makes a difference?
