What was this person thinking? http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/w ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and leaving the scene of an accident?
From the article "...said she was actually between the crossing gates when the train signal went on. "My thought is, 'Oh my God, oh my God, where am I to go?' I see the death coming," she said."
Sadly, considering the number of people I see who stop between the gate and the tracks after the crossing protection activates when they're already past (at least partially) the gate, perhaps better driver education is needed - particularly that you have a minimum of 20 seconds from when the protection is fully activated (meaning gates down) before the train should arrive. There is no need to panic or go ""Oh my God, oh my God, where am I to go?'". Where you go is across. There's plenty of time (20 seconds is far longer than most people realize).
This seems to be particularly prevalent at shallow-angle crossings where there is a lot of room between the gate and the first track. But earlier this month, my Metra engineer had to big-hole it when one of these idiots wasn't clear of our track (dummy saw lights activate, saw train coming on Track 1, stopped well clear of Track 1, then we nearly got him as we came along next on Track 3).