 |
Re: Ever seen a stoplight for a RR crossing? Here's one in Colorado
Author: school buses
Date: 01-28-2019 - 16:38
I've seen school buses that operate in deep rural areas that are decorated with:
- Normal 4-way flashers for the turn signals.
- 4-way flashers for the normal stop lights.
- Big yellow alternating flashing lights up top front and back.
- Big red alternating flashing lights up top front and back, the standard school bus lights.
- Bright solid red lights up top, like the hwy patrol uses.
- Swing-out stop sign on the side, with bright flashing lights outlining "STOP" and around the octagon perimeter.
- And the driver walking kids across the road with a big hand-held stop sign that has LED lights flashing all over it.
And people still blow by them at highway speed, occasionally nailing kids or even the driver.
Then, when my daughter was taking her driving test, the examiner failed her because she stopped at a stop sign, with right turn blinker on to make a turn as instructed, started to pull around the corner, saw a school bus a block up the street, completed the turn and stopped (leading to much horn-blowing behind her). The examiner said that she was supposed to stop immediately upon seeing the bus, a block away, fouling both streets.
And you wonder why people ignore railroad crossing signals.
BTW, the light rail line near me, when running alongside a major street, has signals that, when a train is approaching (usually a crossing or 2 away - signals normally work on a progression basis from one station to the next):
- No Right Turn signs light up on the parallel street.
- Parallel street lights go all red, and cross street goes green.
- 5-10 sec. later, crossing lights come on and gates start down.
- Once the gates are down, the cross street light stays green for a couple of seconds.
- Traffic lights change again, with cross street red and parallel street green, with the No Right Turn light staying on.
- 20-40 sec. after the gates come down, the train comes through, usually slowed to 35mph or so even if speed limit is otherwise 55.
- Gates open, lights clear. Cross street light usually stays red until the traffic signal controller is ready to start another cycle (might be a minute or 2.
All presumably triggered by that pair of wires coming out of the rail line's crossing equipment shack.
- Normal 4-way flashers for the turn signals.
- 4-way flashers for the normal stop lights.
- Big yellow alternating flashing lights up top front and back.
- Big red alternating flashing lights up top front and back, the standard school bus lights.
- Bright solid red lights up top, like the hwy patrol uses.
- Swing-out stop sign on the side, with bright flashing lights outlining "STOP" and around the octagon perimeter.
- And the driver walking kids across the road with a big hand-held stop sign that has LED lights flashing all over it.
And people still blow by them at highway speed, occasionally nailing kids or even the driver.
Then, when my daughter was taking her driving test, the examiner failed her because she stopped at a stop sign, with right turn blinker on to make a turn as instructed, started to pull around the corner, saw a school bus a block up the street, completed the turn and stopped (leading to much horn-blowing behind her). The examiner said that she was supposed to stop immediately upon seeing the bus, a block away, fouling both streets.
And you wonder why people ignore railroad crossing signals.
BTW, the light rail line near me, when running alongside a major street, has signals that, when a train is approaching (usually a crossing or 2 away - signals normally work on a progression basis from one station to the next):
- No Right Turn signs light up on the parallel street.
- Parallel street lights go all red, and cross street goes green.
- 5-10 sec. later, crossing lights come on and gates start down.
- Once the gates are down, the cross street light stays green for a couple of seconds.
- Traffic lights change again, with cross street red and parallel street green, with the No Right Turn light staying on.
- 20-40 sec. after the gates come down, the train comes through, usually slowed to 35mph or so even if speed limit is otherwise 55.
- Gates open, lights clear. Cross street light usually stays red until the traffic signal controller is ready to start another cycle (might be a minute or 2.
All presumably triggered by that pair of wires coming out of the rail line's crossing equipment shack.
