OldPoleBurner Wrote:
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> I have spent forty years in this business, and
> never have I seen a grade crossing so restricted
> in its visibility. There is NOT sufficient
> visibility. There isn't ANY visibility actually,
> unless you stick your head inside the sound wall.
> Now just imagine how a school bus driver is
> supposed to stop and look down the track before
> proceeding, when a sufficient distance can't even
> be seen when standing at the wall - let alone 20
> feet back in the driver's chair. It can't be done
> here - period.
>
> But I have been there, on the ground at the site.
> If you did put your head just past the sound wall
> to where you could see a sufficient distance, even
> with your body up against the wall - you are still
> likely to get hit. The track is that close. There
> is not even a place for a track worker to stand
> aside as a train goes by, without getting hit,
> even with his back up against the wall. Anybody
> anywhere between those walls WILL DIE - period.
>
> Note that I spent the first 15 years of my carrier
> working everyday on the trackway; and 25 more as a
> signal designer - safe spaces to stand as trains
> pass, are critical to survival; especially in
> transit environments where they are often in very
> short supply, even while trains come much more
> often and more suddenly. Well, I may be used to
> it and sensitive to the safety challenges, but the
> general public is not going to be so aware. The
> personnel clearances between those sound walls are
> not even safe for professionals, let alone for the
> less aware public at such a blind crossing. It IS
> profoundly irresponsible of public officials to
> foist such a condition upon the public; that would
> be dangerous even to a seasoned professional.
>
> The heartless attitude often exhibited here when
> every reasonable protection has actually been
> afforded, but still ignored; is one thing. But to
> maintain the heartlessness even when the most
> important protection of all (visibility from a
> safe position) has not been provided, -- is
> utterly inexcusable! Those sound walls must
> come down - period.
>
> Very few would step in front a train they could
> see coming (even stupidly) - and that little girl
> could have seen that train, except for those
> ridiculous sound walls. And that motorman could
> have blown his horn, if he could have seen her
> standing so close. But the sound wall hid her
> from him. That man will be scarred for life -
> even though he is guiltless. What a horrible mess
> - or does the heartlessness obscure that too.
>
> Besides, I would like to think that we are
> civilized to some degree; that the law of the
> jungle has thus been transcended by us civilized
> human beings - at least a little bit; that we
> would willingly try to protect each other from the
> hazards each of our activities present - at least
> to some reasonable degree.
>
> Or maybe we really aren't that civilized after
> all.
>
> OPB

Once again . . . the crossing is equipped with gates and lights - they are clearly visible in the photo in the newspaper article that's linked in the original post on this thread - that were properly operating at the time of the incident. Had the victim waited to cross the tracks until they stopped operating, thus indicating that no train was approaching, she would be alive today, correct? Sound wall or no sound wall.

Your suggestion that this crossing will present a safety hazard for school busses seems rather far-fetched, since the gates and lights are designed to function in advance of an approaching train. Thus, if a school bus driver encounters the gates and lights operating, he or she can reasonably be expected to stop short of them and wait until they cease to operate. Conversely, if they are not operating when he or she approaches the crossing, and do not begin to operate, it's an indication that no train is approaching.

Did you actually work on this UTA project? If so, did you bring your concerns to the attention of UTA, or to FTA, for that matter? What was their response?

So, will you be providing us with some verifiable data on train vs. pedestrian collisions at crossings where there are sound walls versus crossings where there aren't?