Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdNoMore
While I do appreciate the response on the history, I think I would have to see the official response to believe anything about a 'train.'
Not saying that isn't what you were told, I'm just having a hard time believing any traffic official would have said that...and would love to have someone provide a link showing that as a reason for the longer gate arms.
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The gates used to have shorter arms that would allow bicycles and carts to pass through without a card or button push. It is actually a regulation in the federal code for uniform traffic control signs/signals and markings. The train comment was used to explain that requiring the arm cover the entire lane stemmed from a concern that a short arm on a railroad crossing could encourage someone to drive around it and be hit by a train. (Lord knows they still do that with the longer arms.) Thus the arms were replaced with longer ones.