linkman

jkichline said:

steveau said:

Another great reason to use mapping apps. In Australia it is not uncommon for accidents to occur where a car, being driven at night on a long, straight outback road, plows into a freight train blocking a level crossing. Just a warning from Siri, like "Level Crossing one kilometre ahead. Slow down and check for trains", could save many lives.

Not to be obtuse, but isn't that what road signs are for?  Why is that the responsibility of the map?  Granted, that sure would be nice if GPS systems told you (there's a railroad crossing ahead), but I'm not sure why drivers can't take responsibility for driving and paying attention to the road and existing signage.


Oh and... why do they park a freight train at a crossing?  That sounds like the government should do something about that (lights, signs, not parking trains on roads) rather than worry about GPS mapping systems.

Interesting story here. A co-worker many years ago was driving to work along the route he had taken hundreds of times and approached the railroad crossing at around 05:00 AM. He noticed that it looked a little "different" than usual. It was quite dark at the time. So he slowed down and stopped only to find a train parked across the road. He said that he would not have seen the train in time to stop if he traveled at his usual speed. The warning lights were not working properly, presumably because the front locomotive had passed it a long time ago and there was nothing to keep the lights set to an active condition.

Trains frequently block intersections because they have to wait for sections ahead to clear and due to their length may obstruct one or more grade crossings.