A note about the trains
The trains - they're big and they move fast and they run on a track. Therefore the train is going to plow into your car and do a lot of damage if your car is stopped where a road crosses a train track. Three times in the last month vehicles have been hit by trains in the East Oakland area. The latest incident was relatively minor and nobody died. Less than two weeks earlier a man and boy were 
killed as their car was struck by a train in the exact same spot. I drove through that same intersection last week on my way to a meeting, and it was rush hour and there was traffic and sure enough the guy ahead of me stopped on the track when the light two blocks ahead changed to red. In 2004 California led the nation with 86 people killed in train related accidents, Texas came in second with 41. California has a lot of trains travelling through crowded areas, in my neighborhood the train goes right down the middle of the street. I see people all the time rushing across the track at the last minute. Sometimes it can take 15-20 minutes for a freight train to pass and people don't want to wait, but really is that 15 minutes worth your life? I don't think so.
I know people who are afraid of planes, but hardly anyone who is afraid of trains. Personally I know more people who have been killed by trains than by planes. Though on a national average car deaths beats them both and we all get in our cars every day. My mother instilled in me a healthy wariness of train tracks when I was young. It's not that hard to understand really, the train is big stay out of the way and don't mess with it.
At the particular intersection where the latest incident occurred the crossing gates could be coordinated with the nearby stoplights to prevent people from crossing the tracks when the light was about to change. But this would inevitably slow traffic through the intersection and elicit a lot of complaints about people being stopped when the way ahead was clear. So in short there is probably not much to be done though I'm sure there will eventually be a clamor for some sort of change and the railroads will have to bear the public scorn and cost.
killed as their car was struck by a train in the exact same spot. I drove through that same intersection last week on my way to a meeting, and it was rush hour and there was traffic and sure enough the guy ahead of me stopped on the track when the light two blocks ahead changed to red. In 2004 California led the nation with 86 people killed in train related accidents, Texas came in second with 41. California has a lot of trains travelling through crowded areas, in my neighborhood the train goes right down the middle of the street. I see people all the time rushing across the track at the last minute. Sometimes it can take 15-20 minutes for a freight train to pass and people don't want to wait, but really is that 15 minutes worth your life? I don't think so. I know people who are afraid of planes, but hardly anyone who is afraid of trains. Personally I know more people who have been killed by trains than by planes. Though on a national average car deaths beats them both and we all get in our cars every day. My mother instilled in me a healthy wariness of train tracks when I was young. It's not that hard to understand really, the train is big stay out of the way and don't mess with it.
At the particular intersection where the latest incident occurred the crossing gates could be coordinated with the nearby stoplights to prevent people from crossing the tracks when the light was about to change. But this would inevitably slow traffic through the intersection and elicit a lot of complaints about people being stopped when the way ahead was clear. So in short there is probably not much to be done though I'm sure there will eventually be a clamor for some sort of change and the railroads will have to bear the public scorn and cost.
| 18:19
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