Democrat & Chronicle: Troubling crossing turns deadly [1]
Well, here’s some reality:
I’m not only from Rochester, but I’m a railfan, and one of my offices is within sight of the crossing in question.
I will tell you what the investigation will show; Weather conditions caused the gates to respond later than usual to the train’s approach. (Which, by the way is also what caused the problems in Gates… I happen to live by those crossings.)
We had wet snow, and sleet most of the day, here. That kind of weather tends to cause the signals to react strangely; because of their design, they can react too early or too late to a train.. or to no train at all.
That said, the lights were on… and no other cars were hit. I have to wonder, how much a factor was age, here.