Recently I heard something about Bedford Ohio might Becoming a quiet zone. I personally Don't like quiet zones because they can be dangerous and I like to hear train horns when they pass a crossing. Now I want to talk a little bit about Quiet zones and see what your opinion is. So Olmsted Falls is also a quiet zone, reason why they wanted a quiet zone was because of the noise so people complained of the noises since there are houses along the line. First of all if you bought a house by railroad tracks, what do you expect peace and quiet? No, that's why I think that if people don't like the noise of railroads by there house they shouldn't have picked the house next to train tracks. Another reason why I don't like Quiet zones is because it's dangerous to pedestrians and traffic. My reason why is because what if there is a gate malfunction and cars drive around it and there is a train that actually comes through and hits a car. When I was railfanning in Olmsted falls I saw a family with kids run across the tracks when the gates were down and a train was approaching, although they didn't get hit it's still dangerous!. So what is every one's else's opinion on Quiet zones?
The intersection in Bedford is unique- two street crossings within less than a quarter mile, so the trains blow their horns from one crossing all the way until they hit the next crossing. I grew up 4 houses down from those tracks. In recent years with the merging of Conrail and Norfolk Southern (I think it was those two), the railway traffic has increased considerably. When I was a kid, there might have been 5 trains all day. Now, it isn't uncommon to have a few an hour. The people who owned their homes long before the merger couldn't have anticipated as much railway traffic as their currently is.
I think your post lacks of compassion. People who live next to tracks don't deserve any sort of quality of life? If the federal railroad administration has deemed quiet zones safe, why not have them wherever possible in order to get rid of the noise pollution?