Railfans playing traffic cops!

This morning I went out to spend a few hours to watch the action at Porter Junction. During that time there was another railfan hanging out there, and to my disbelief he spent a lot of his time waving motorists around the lowered crossing gates! One time he waved one lady by when the train was less than 10 seconds from the crossing!

I know it seems the gates lower a little too soon when a train approaches the junction but I really don't believe it's up to me or anyone else unofficial to encourage motorists to do something so dangerous, foolhardy and ILLEGAL! Not to mention the liability issue if something were to happen.

sounds like foolhardy and dangerous behaviour . Unfortunatley in some cases , a little bit of knowledge is dangerous .

I assume the gates were stuck in the down position?

Rockingham Racer wrote:I assume the gates were stuck in the down position?

No, they just come down a little sooner than usual. Other than that, they were operating normally.

Had he misjudged time/distance, I would not have wanted to be him...

1) Possibility of criminal action by the local authorities.
2) Possibility of lawsuit by the family of a wrecked car.
3) Near certainty of a lawsuit by the railroad, for a bunch of causes.

My personal belief is a railfan should err on the conservative side of safe!

John Perkowski

Hmmm , i guess his defence could be , since he had no authority ( unless he was wearing clothing that could have him in further trouble for impersonating an offical ) , nobody should have taken any notice of him .
as i said above a little bit of knowledge is dangerous if misused .
I am myself quilty of putting myself in danger in Wales .
I got of a train with my bicycle , at a station that had semaphore signals . it was a country station , and it was necessary to cross the tracks . the semaphores were in what i thought was a danger position , so i was about to cross the tracks , when the station master yelled at me to stop . The signals were in the proceed position , and sure enough , seconds later , a frieght roared through .

It is interesting to note that a few years ago I reported gates that were stuck in the down position to a municipal police department and they declined to do anything about it because of liability! They deferred to the railroad itself to handle the situation.

henry6 wrote:It is interesting to note that a few years ago I reported gates that were stuck in the down position to a municipal police department and they declined to do anything about it because of liability! They deferred to the railroad itself to handle the situation.

I think they are obligated to at least notify the railroad of the problem, however.