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Re: QZ's can be over-ridden? A lot of the "Armchair Quarterbacking" seems to reqire Engineers to have ESP....?
Author: BOB2
Date: 01-23-2024 - 00:53
"Armchair Quaterback"???? Yep, that pretty much sums up those comments....
These requests for "quiet zones" that are granted without maximum required engineering protections, with things like exceptions for lower speeds, seem to be "inherently" problematic based on the experiences in some of these recent incidents.
Leaving the instantaneous situational awareness and decisionmaking to the magical ESP powers of each individual Engineer being able to correctly devine the future intentions of all of the drivers approaching grade crossings, apparently by reading the drivers minds, and expecting the Engineer "override QZ's", based on such special mental powers, does not seem like a viable solution either.
Downtown San Diego is an example where even at slower speeds, there is a very real problem with motorist's running gates in "quiet zones", because they are inadequately engineered to properly "chimp proof" them, in order to prevent folks from running around the closed gates.
Which is probably why the NTSB has been looking at this problem much more closely in relation to other such incidents around the country. And which is why I expect to see the rules on granting quiet zones to be tightened up considerably, with higher engineering requirments for "chimp proofing"...
Full quad gating, and proper anti "zig zagging" medians, should probably always be required, for a quiet zone, regardless of the speed over crossing, as a "minimum" QZ standard. But apparently this is not always required, hence more recent incidents in QZ's, and the NTSB investigations into these crossing incidents at other locations.
These requests for "quiet zones" that are granted without maximum required engineering protections, with things like exceptions for lower speeds, seem to be "inherently" problematic based on the experiences in some of these recent incidents.
Leaving the instantaneous situational awareness and decisionmaking to the magical ESP powers of each individual Engineer being able to correctly devine the future intentions of all of the drivers approaching grade crossings, apparently by reading the drivers minds, and expecting the Engineer "override QZ's", based on such special mental powers, does not seem like a viable solution either.
Downtown San Diego is an example where even at slower speeds, there is a very real problem with motorist's running gates in "quiet zones", because they are inadequately engineered to properly "chimp proof" them, in order to prevent folks from running around the closed gates.
Which is probably why the NTSB has been looking at this problem much more closely in relation to other such incidents around the country. And which is why I expect to see the rules on granting quiet zones to be tightened up considerably, with higher engineering requirments for "chimp proofing"...
Full quad gating, and proper anti "zig zagging" medians, should probably always be required, for a quiet zone, regardless of the speed over crossing, as a "minimum" QZ standard. But apparently this is not always required, hence more recent incidents in QZ's, and the NTSB investigations into these crossing incidents at other locations.
