Is it really worth it to save a minute! Stupid driver


Yeah, and to get that smell out of the locomotive cab. Somethin' like that will certainly make ya fill yer drawers all right. Actually, I'd pull him over for reckless driving, reckless endangerment, speeding......and operation of a motor vehicle without a brain.

And I'd fine the train crew for not speeding up and taking this clown off the road. (OK, not really)

It's easy to joke about it now, but I did some of the paperwork on the infamous Amtrak crash outside Baltimore for Baltimore County PD back in the late 80's when Ricky Gates was tokin' a J and watching TV in the cab of a Conrail loco and ran a turnout. NOT pretty. Not pretty at all. Metroliner clipped him at about 110.
 
close calls

Several years ago I lived in Pine Bluff Ark. They had so many people doing this that they put up cameras to catch and fine the drivers. They should do that ever where.
 
close calls

That's to bad, it was working and not only saves lives but also saves on water in the process of cleaning ones pants.
 
Di, I'm not sure where you get your information, but any state that has red light camera laws in force can use cameras at railroad crossings. The flashing lights and gates are traffic control devices and fall into the same legal classification as traffic lights. There are a few states that forbid the use of cameras but there are about 400 cities around the nation who use red light cameras already.

The legal issues with red light cameras are deciding exactly when a driver goes through a red light as opposed to one that was still yellow. A railroad crossing is easy by comparision. If the lights are flashing and/or the gates are down, crossing the tracks is automatically a violation. I think the real issue is the shear number of cameras you'd need to cover even a small proportion of the crossings in the US. OTOH, about half the red light cameras you see at intersections are fake. They are cheap to put up and they have the same deterrent effect on drivers. We could certainly put up some real cameras at busy crossings and fakes at other crossings and cut down on this type of risky behavior pretty quickly, if local officials have the will to do so.
 
In my state, Massachusetts, law enforcement DOES NOT use traffic cameras of any sort to issue tickets because there is no actual law enforcement officer witnessing the crime and can testify as a witness of that crime. The accused has a constitutional right to confront their accuser in which case there is no accuser.

When an officer pulls over a car and runs the driver's license, the officer would issue the ticket to the driver, not the car. With a traffic camera issuing tickets, the ticket would be sent to the car's owner who will have a hard time proving his innocence if he/she was not behind the wheel of the car when it passed a red light or crossing gates.

Traffic camera laws will be spotty until the federal government either issue an official ruling on whether traffic cameras are legal, or if they violate the constitution.

Lets not turn this thread into a discussion about the law.

Back to people going around gates. How about if they install gates where BOTH lanes of traffic are blocked on both sides. If the gates are down and theres no way around them, then I don't think people would be as inclined to go through/around them.

Another solution would be to install gates that come up out of the ground and sticks up about 2 feet above the pavement instead of having gates that come down. It would be ridiculously costly, but it's foolproof. You just can't drive over a metal barrier.
 
diburning said:
Back to people going around gates. How about if they install gates where BOTH lanes of traffic are blocked on both sides. If the gates are down and theres no way around them, then I don't think people would be as inclined to go through/around them.
Click to expand...

If they can afford this then the cameras would be cheaper and pay for them selves and as far as proving you didn't do it by the photo all you would have to do would be to show your drivers license. I got caught in Frisco by a red light camera and when the picture came with the ticket, yep it was me. I wrote a letter to the court explaining what happened and the judge let me off. But even with two gates it still wouldn't stop bikers.
 
I think the best way to stop these idiots is to leave the gates as they are and install tire shredders in the road surface that only pop up when the gates are activated, this idiot that violated the gate most likely has done it before, if he had to replace his tires everytime he would learn his lesson. Think of all the buisness for the tire shops;). Problem fixed.
 
Di, as long as the red light camera clearly shows the driver's face as well as the plate, there is no constitutional issue. The camera is no different than an officer using radar. However, I'm sure this issue will eventually reach the US Supreme Court and be sorted out there. As Mike found out, those cameras are pretty darned good. :) About 5% of our red light violators never got tickets because the camera did not clearly show their face, so the technology isn't perfect. We did stop one guy who blew a red light that was wearing a clown mask though. Claimed he was going to a costume party. :D

There are rising barrier crossing guards in use but they are very expensive. Here's one in Uzbekistan:

Apcpsspaa.JPG


Even with this system, you can see that someone on a motorcycle could still circumvent the barriers. I think a higher certainty of getting caught and paying a stiff fine is more effective than any barrier system.
 
Jim, I meant a full length barrier where nothing can go across.

The "perfect" camera technology still doesn't give the driver an accuser to confront as legally, you must confront a certain law enforecement officer and cannot confront the police department as a whole.

The tire shredders are a good idea, but should they ever malfunction or some stupid kid goes up and touches them or something (This is America. People can trespass on the tracks, get hit by a train, then sue and win because our legal system is puts people who have no education in physics on the juries.) Then again, no system is perfect. Even now people can sue the state and claim that they get whacked by the gate or something.
 
This thread is starting to get off track however regarding cameras. The problem isnt about if its legal to install them. The problem is that if its not legal to install them. Its convincing the local legislature that its a good idea to pony up the money to install them if it is legal. In states were its not legal. Thats another issue all together.
 
ChevelleSSguy said:
This thread is starting to get off track however regarding cameras. The problem isnt about if its legal to install them. The problem is that if its not legal to install them. Its convincing the local legislature that its a good idea to pony up the money to install them if it is legal. In states were its not legal. Thats another issue all together.
Click to expand...

Indeed, and that is my basic point. We can work out later what to do if the Supreme Court decides they're unconstitutional. Until then, it's a way to decrease the number of gate runners at a way cheaper price than reconfiguring all the grade crossings in the country.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top