It's a sad commentary when this much effort and money must be spent because some people are too stupid to avoid stopping their vehicles on the tracks!

"DR Don" appears to know little about RR crossings and how vehicles can become trapped on them. When vehicles are moving in a line, especially at rush hours, the drivers cannot predict when a traffic light will change to RED. When it does, the vehicles stop. But people in the back of the line don't know how much room there is ahead until the vehicle ahead of them comes to a full stop. Some people might say, "Well, can't the drivers tell when to stop so they don't stop on the track(s?) The answer is, generally, no. In order to keep from being stopped on a track, each driver would have to stop before reaching the track and wait for the vehicle ahead to get across AND go far enough for the stopped vehicle to cross AND clear the track. GO out to a busy RR crossing that is near an intersection with a traffic light and watch what happens when the light turns RED for vehicles going over the crossing. Vehicles get queued on the track.

A long time ago, Traffic Signal Preemption was invented and it allows the RR Track Circuit to "take over" the highway traffic signal computer and keep the light GREEN until the gates are down and vehicles have cleared the crossing. But many crossings near traffic intersections with traffic signals DO NOT have Traffic Signal Preemption. The lack of Traffic Signal Preemption caused 29 crashes at an extremely busy RR crossing (3 tracks) on Grand Ave. in Elmwood Park, Illinois.

Ohio Investigator wrote, "In order to keep from being stopped on a track, each driver would have to stop before reaching the track and wait for the vehicle ahead to get across AND go far enough for the stopped vehicle to cross AND clear the track."

Yes, that is exactly what I was taught in Drivers Ed 25 years ago -- never drive onto a railroad track if there is not room enough ahead of you to be able to immediately get off it. I realize that doing this can make for a slower commute, but what is so difficult about it?

FYI to all - there is no light at this stop.

900S ends at a STOP sign before crossing 5-sets of train tracks. The STOP sign has a notice under it that states 'DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL THE CAR AHEAD OF YOU HAS LEFT THE INTERSECTION' - referring to the intersection immediately after the tracks.
This intersection has a right turn to enter the I-15 on ramp and a left turn to head towards Main, with enough room for 1 car at this 2nd Stop sign.
Currently it isn't a problem because the on-ramp is closed to southbound traffic - which normally requires all left-turning motorists to stop and wait for a clear intersection. However, once the on-ramp opens up it will be a problem, because cars off of 900S must Stop before the tracks and wait for the 1car ahead of them to proceed either left to Main or right to the Hwy.

People don’t watch the forward car, instead do a ‘courtesy’ stop before rushing across the tracks, anticipating the car ahead will be turn ‘any second now’. However, if there are cars on the on-ramp, that ain’t gonna happen. That’s when the accidents occur. SLOW DOWN PEOPLE!

re: Ohio Investigator

""DR Don" appears to know little about RR crossings and how vehicles can become trapped on them."

DR Don worked for various railroads for well over 30 years and knows quite a bit about railroad crossings. DR Don has personally dealt with the aftermath of vehicles and people struck by trains. DR Don stands by his original statement.