It's called "gate jumping," and it's one of the most dangerous driving maneuvers on Sacramento streets – where impatient motorists dodge around rail crossing safety gates to beat a coming train.

The question, following a fatal crash in south Sacramento on Saturday, is how often does it happen and what more can be done to stop it?

State guidelines suggest that double crossing arms could improve safety at intersections like the one where the accident occurred. But Sacramento Regional Transit officials say such changes would be expensive and could cause new safety issues, like the chance of cars getting caught on the tracks between two sets of closed crossing arms.

Members of three generations of one family died when a light-rail train hit their Nissan Pathfinder broadside at 26th Avenue as the SUV darted through gates, authorities said. Driver Louis Leon Williams, 62, died along with his daughter, Shante Hope Williams, 25. Also killed was his grandson, 22-month old Damian Antiwon Williams.

Police say they know frustrated drivers at times weave through Sacramento's many rail crossings, and hope Saturday's tragedy will cause some to think twice. But residents and drivers say they doubt it will stop.

Rich Tolmach said he has seen gate jumping and other risky moves all too often at the 13th Street crossing near his residence. One driver totaled Tolmach's parked car while making a U-turn to avoid waiting for the train.

"It's crazy behavior, but I understand why," Tolmach said. "It's another form of road rage. You can't predict how long you'll be trapped."

In several heavily traveled neighborhoods, including south Sacramento, Rosemont and Rancho Cordova, the delay can be doubled, because light-rail trains share the same rail corridor as freight trains, and trains sometimes pass through on separate tracks just seconds apart.

Saturday's fatal crash happened during what may have been a perfect storm for frustration and danger at a rail crossing. The 26th Avenue crossing arms were down continuously for 7 1/2 minutes while first one, then another freight train passed on two of the corridor's four tracks, according to on-site recorders, Sacramento Regional Transit officials said.

After the second freight train cleared the crossing, recorders show there was a 37-second gap, with crossing arms remaining down, before a light-rail train came through on its track at an estimated 50-55 mph.

During those 37 seconds, authorities said, video shows that the Nissan Pathfinder pulled onto the wrong side of the road to angle past the down crossing arm. It may have jumped a four-inch plastic center divider just west of the crossing.

In addition to the three people killed in the crash, a fourth person in the SUV, identified as Demetric Deann Good Williams, 57, suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, police said. Several passengers in the light-rail train also were treated for injuries.

Train crashes involving motor vehicles or bicycles at crossings happen on average once every few months in Sacramento County, a Bee review of records shows. According to the Federal Rail Administration crash database, there were 46 train-vs.-car crashes, causing nine deaths and 23 injuries, between 2000 and late 2011.

Union Pacific was involved in 24 of those, accounting for five deaths. RT was involved in eight, with two deaths. The BNSF freight rail company was involved in eight, with two deaths.

Tolmach, president of the California Rail Foundation, emailed Sacramento Regional Transit on Monday, asking the agency to consider installing a second set of safety arms at rail crossings, blocking the entire street and preventing agitated drivers from using the wrong side of the street to get through.

He also said RT and Union Pacific, which owns the rail corridor, should consider putting up signs warning drivers that more than one train might be coming through in succession.

The state Public Utilities Commission previously issued guidelines to rail operators for what are called "four-quadrant" crossing arms as one potential approach to stop drivers from trying to beat an oncoming train.

PUC officials Monday said they are investigating the Sacramento crash, including reviewing the amount of time the gates were down and assessing "the condition and safety measures at the crossing," PUC spokesman Andrew Kotch said. "Hopefully we will learn lessons that can be applied more broadly to prevent a tragedy like this one in the future."

PUC guidelines suggest that streets like 26th Avenue may be appropriate for more protection. Gate times there can be long, multiple trains use the corridor, views are blocked by soundwalls and the tracks cross the street at an angle, making it easier for cars to weave around the gates.

RT officials said Monday it is too early to decide on any further safety measures at this or other crossings.

RT currently has full-street or "four-quadrant" crossing arms at only one of its 75 intersections, the crossing at Richards Boulevard and 12th and 16th streets. Additional guard arms would cost about $75,000 per crossing, RT officials said.

RT operations chief Mark Lonergan said crashes are rare, considering that light-rail trains pass through each of the system's 75 street crossings 80,000 times a year.

"This is a tragic incident, but you have to look at our safety record overall," he said.

Union Pacific officials say their records over the last five years show two incidents at the 26th Avenue crossing in the last five years where cars broke crossing arms, but no crashes involving trains.

RT's Lonergan said his agency has had trouble with cars driving through and breaking crossing arms at a variety of intersections. One such incident caused a double fatality on Bradshaw Road in the mid-1990s, he said. That was believed to be the worst local light-rail-vs.-vehicle crash until Saturday.

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