My Railroad Crossing Violation - DISMISSED!

Awesome news Rob. I've learned a lot from your situation. Merry Christmas and God bless brother.

Great news, Rob! I fought my ticket I received in September, and even though I didn't get it dismissed, I did get it reduced to a minor, non-moving violation. Like you, fighting it cost me more $$, but it was worth it.

Travis I completely understand where you're coming from. A couple weeks after my incident I had another close call. I was in Burnsville (Southside of minneapolis) MN and it was another crossing that didnt have the greatest visibility. Speed limit was 25 or 35, cant remember. I slowed down even further. Tracks were clear so I kept going. After my tractor was on the tracks the lights began flashing. My trailer had just cleared the track when the gates started coming down. All we can do is what we're supposed to and if you make contact with the gate you can honestly say you did what you could to avoid it. I read that those gates cost upwards of $10,000. I'd plow through a gate over stopping on the track. They key is to not get into a situation like that. In the original thread about this incident G Town said that he will slow down until hes at the moment of no return and then put the pedal to the floor. I wish there was more warning of an approaching train but if they were to give them a yellow light as well more people I feel would try to beat the train. It already happens with traffic signals. In the close call I had there were 2 lanes going in my direction so I had moved into the left lane to give myself the most clearance if they started coming down. After my incident I have a healthy level of fear regarding them. If I need to come to a complete stop in order to make sure nothing is coming that's what I'll do. As long as I throw my 4 way flashers on everyone else can deal with it. If I happen to have a gate come down on me I'll take the deputies advice and call the RR company.

Side note seen something real stupid in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday. I was picking up a load of Yeast to bring back and a train had the road blocked. I was waiting to turn left and needed to wait for traffic to clear. After the train was gone one of the equipment rental companies driver came to a complete stop on the track to let me out! I thanked him but called him a dumb A**. He didnt think he did anything wrong . Instead I got called an inconsiderate A-hole.