Re: NNG You must OBEY RR Crossing Gates People!!!

Unfortunately, this motoring-public habit will continue until the last grade crossing is eliminated, railroads become extinct or highway vehicles go away.

I just returned from riding the headend of Amtrak's City of New Orleans between Memphis and New Orleans and back to Memphis to maintain my qualifications over that segment of the railroad. The number of autos (and pedestrians) that could not wait for a single unit and seven passenger cars to pass was amazing. The most memorable (of the many) was one who decided to run the lowered gates at Northside Drive in Jackson, MS. This is a four-lane road with extra long gates installed in an attempt to deter the urge to drive around the lowered crossing protection. In order to negotiate its way around the gates, the vehicle was almost facing the train as it wound around the lowered barriers. He made it (as did all the others) but, unfortunately, one or more might end up as a media headline someday, similar to these five young people. You can't keep some of the public from doing foolish things but my greatest issue is the mental stress it heaps on the operating crews and the mostly negative publicity it brings to the railroading industry.

Just my view from a 79 mph locomotive cab.

Don C.