The message from last weekend's fatal collision between a Regional Transit light-rail train and an SUV is obvious: Never, ever drive around railroad safety gates.
Still, the crash raises another issue. Should RT work with Union Pacific and other railways to install gates to block all four quadrants of a crossing, in hope of preventing such incredibly reckless behavior?
Light-rail tracks cross streets at 75 locations in Sacramento. Frequently, freight trains share the rights-of-way with light-rail tracks. When long freight trains and light-rail cars pass through a crossing soon after each other and the gates stay down, the waits for drivers caught on either side of the tracks can seem interminable.
That's what happened Saturday, officials said. Two freight trains going in opposite directions crossed 26th Avenue, one right after the other. Cars were kept waiting for 7 1/2 minutes.
When the second freight train cleared the crossing and the safety gates remained down, one impatient driver drove around the gates. An RT light-rail train traveling at 55 miles per hour slammed into his SUV, killing the driver, his grown daughter and his 2-year-old grandson. His wife was severely injured, and several people on the light-rail train were also treated for injuries.
There have been 56 collisions between trains and vehicles in Sacramento County over the last 11 years – and eight deaths, not counting Saturday's. No one records the number of times motorists jump safety gates, but it is not uncommon.
Regional Transit estimates it would cost $75,000 per crossing to install safety gates across all four quadrants of an intersection. Also, full streetwide gates on both sides of a crossing create their own safety challenges. Systems would have to be engineered in a way that prevents cars from getting trapped on tracks between gates.
Clearly, it doesn't make sense to have streetwide safety gates at all crossings. But RT and railroads that operate in Sacramento should conduct surveys to determine the feasibility of such an option for the most dangerous intersections.
Rail operators should also rev up safety campaigns.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, 94 percent of vehicle-train collisions are caused by reckless motorists. Safety campaigns over the last three decades have reduced grade-crossing accidents dramatically, from a high of 13,557 across the country in 1978 to 2,017 in 2010. The number of collisions has fallen even as train and car traffic at railroad crossings has increased substantially.
As anyone who's been paying attention knows, many Sacramento drivers and pedestrians need a refresher course on the dangers of gate jumping.
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