Amtrak 21 or 22 Accident

[Eric S]

The JAX report ends with the fact that Amtrak has been involved in 3 of the 7 RR crossing accidents in the JAX area. I don't like their implication, hidden or otherwise. The problem is the drivers. The SUV driver should never have moved forward onto the tracks until there was space to totally cross over.

Occasionally you'll hear reports from (surviving) drivers who did not expect the train to come so quickly. I specifically remember this in the 1999 Bourbonnais, IL, City of New Orleans crash, where the truck driver was quoted as saying something to the effect of "it had to be the fast one (train)" - suggesting that drivers become used to slower freight trains and assume they can beat the train across, only to be surprised by the faster Amtrak train.

None of this absolves drivers of their responsibility, though. In fact, I strongly believe there ought to be camera/automated enforcement at many or most grade crossings, with tickets automatically sent to the owners of vehicles.

 

[tonys96]

The JAX report ends with the fact that Amtrak has been involved in 3 of the 7 RR crossing accidents in the JAX area. I don't like their implication, hidden or otherwise. The problem is the drivers. The SUV driver should never have moved forward onto the tracks until there was space to totally cross over.

Occasionally you'll hear reports from (surviving) drivers who did not expect the train to come so quickly. I specifically remember this in the 1999 Bourbonnais, IL, City of New Orleans crash, where the truck driver was quoted as saying something to the effect of "it had to be the fast one (train)" - suggesting that drivers become used to slower freight trains and assume they can beat the train across, only to be surprised by the faster Amtrak train.

None of this absolves drivers of their responsibility, though. In fact, I strongly believe there ought to be camera/automated enforcement at many or most grade crossings, with tickets automatically sent to the owners of vehicles.

We have cameras at many crossings in my city....first in Texas to do this. $75 fine. We give a 4 second "grace period" from the time crossing lights start, which correlates to the time the arms start descending.

 

[SarahZ]

Guys, saying a train hit a vehicle does not mean the train is at-fault, nor does it imply it.

If the train strikes the vehicle because the vehicle tried to cross in front of the train (or got stuck on the tracks), that is grammatically correct.

If the vehicle runs into the side of the train, then you'd say the vehicle hit the train.

 

[Lonestar648]

The big problem, beside all the trucks and cars that race the train to the crossing, are the majority of drivers who refuse to safely wait until there is ample space on the other side of the crossing, instead they inch their way up to the car in front of them probably waiting for the light to turn. This is what happened to the driver of the SUV in JAX hit by the Auto Train. With local governments outlawing use of the train horn, no one hears the horn until it is an emergency situation. If the gates go down with enough time for drivers to escape then you have the impatient ones who drive around the gates, because they can not tolerate waiting 60 seconds or a couple minutes for a train. Education needs to really address not stopping on the tracks EVER. My family knows not to do this, but they hate the horn honking we get for doing so.

 

[tonys96]

The big problem, beside all the trucks and cars that race the train to the crossing, are the majority of drivers who refuse to safely wait until there is ample space on the other side of the crossing, instead they inch their way up to the car in front of them probably waiting for the light to turn. This is what happened to the driver of the SUV in JAX hit by the Auto Train. With local governments outlawing use of the train horn, no one hears the horn until it is an emergency situation. If the gates go down with enough time for drivers to escape then you have the impatient ones who drive around the gates, because they can not tolerate waiting 60 seconds or a couple minutes for a train. Education needs to really address not stopping on the tracks EVER. My family knows not to do this, but they hate the horn honking we get for doing so.

Dealing with UP here in Texas, and all other rail lines, in order to get a "quiet zone" where there is no train horn, the municipality must, at it;s own cost' install arms that are not passable. This means that there must be arms that completely cross the street on BOTH sides of the track, Example: four arms on a two lane street, or there must be an eight inch curb between the lanes, like on a four lane street with a median. This stops the "going around" the arms.

If a municipality does not do this, they can not get a "quiet zone". We chose to do this in my city, and we had the cameras for about 7 years before that.

 

[Thirdrail7]

We have cameras at many crossings in my city....first in Texas to do this. $75 fine. We give a 4 second "grace period" from the time crossing lights start, which correlates to the time the arms start descending.

This sounds like a good way to modify behaviour. The fine should escalate after each occurrence.