12-15-2021, 09:42 AM
(12-15-2021, 09:19 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(12-15-2021, 08:29 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Or even the road. There is no gate needed when the train is there because the train blocks the crossing.
I have mused about that myself. On the one hand, I’m concerned that people would have a tendency to go when the gates rise; on the other hand, if this were universal, everybody would know (not just intellectually, but in their habits and unconscious expectations) that you don’t go when the gates rise; plus as you point out there would be a great big honking (literally!) train occupying the crossing. And getting people out of the habit of going when the gates rise would be a benefit at locations where there are both regular traffic lights and railway crossing protection.
The one tricky bit would be the situation where the train stops while it’s partially fouling the crossing and then reverses. The gates would of course go down again before it starts moving but in the meantime people might try to sneak past centimetres from the end of the train.
I'd say that if a person is paying so little attention to their surroundings, that when the gates go up they drive straight into the side of a train, well, frankly, I'm glad they've destroyed their vehicle in a way that is unlikely to injure someone. Of course pedestrians may do the same thing.
But, I think the LRT is again, different from a train, especially a freight train, which is significantly more dangerous to even be near, and may have flat cars and other things which could be missed. Again, part of the problem is in treating the LRT the same as the train.
I suspect a significant problem with our road systems is oversimplification. Which is ironic, given over complication is also a problem. But various readings of occam's razor and related quotes all generally include "only as complicated as necessary"...oversimplification as we see it here introduces additional complexity by trying to unnaturally force unlike objects into the same category in the quest to have fewer categories. Same with bikes and cars (or bikes and pedestrians).