The Crossbuck With Two Tracks and a Number Plate
At 9:50 p.m. on a moonless night you are on a two-lane rural road in Carroll County approaching a passive railroad crossing. You see a crossbuck, a "2 TRACKS" plaque, a small blue-and-white number plate reading "123 456X," and an "EXEMPT" plaque. There are no gates and no flashing lights. A long freight train has just cleared the crossing from left to right, and the car ahead of you has already crossed. As your headlights sweep the crossing, you notice a faint light moving from right to left beyond the first track. Your passenger says the train is gone, so go.
1. What does each piece of this crossing's signage require of you - the crossbuck, the "2 TRACKS" plaque, the number plate, and the "EXEMPT" plaque?
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The crossbuck means yield: you must slow, look, and listen, and proceed only when you are certain no train is approaching - it is not a stop sign, but at night with no gates the practical effect is a stop. The "2 TRACKS" plaque means a second track lies beyond the first, so a train clearing on the near track tells you nothing about the far track. The blue-and-white number plate is the crossing's USDOT inventory number; its purpose is to let you identify this exact location when reporting a hazard or an emergency, which is why you should be able to read it back to a 911 dispatcher. The "EXEMPT" plaque applies only to specific vehicle classes covered by the exemption - typically certain buses and hazardous-materials trucks - and it does not exempt a passenger car from yielding or stopping. Reading the assembly as a whole is the point: each plate answers a different question.
2. The car ahead has crossed and the freight train has cleared. Do you follow?
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No. The car ahead crossing proves only that the near track was clear at that instant; it says nothing about the second track, and the faint light you saw moving right to left is exactly the cue the "2 TRACKS" plaque is warning you about. Following another vehicle across a crossing is a classic fatal error because it substitutes the other driver's judgment for your own view. The correct procedure is to stop short of the stop line or the crossbuck, roll the window down at night, kill the radio and heater fan, look and listen in both directions, and wait until you can see past the first track - or until the second train has visibly passed. If the faint light turns out to be a train, it may be moving faster than it appears; trains at night are deceptive about speed and distance because you see only a single headlight with no size reference.
3. At a different crossing a week later, the gate is down and the red lights are flashing, but no train is visible in either direction and several cars are driving around the gate. What do you do?
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You stay put. A gate that is down means the crossing is protected against you for a reason; gates can malfunction, and a train can be approaching without its headlight visible, especially around a curve or in fog. Driving around a lowered gate is unlawful in Maryland and is one of the most reliable ways to be killed at a crossing. The fact that other drivers are doing it changes nothing about your risk - following a crowd through a gate is not a defense and not a signal that it is safe. If the gate appears stuck, back up if you can do so safely, then call 911 and report the crossing using the blue-and-white number plate, or use the railroad's posted emergency number. If you are already trapped on the tracks, get out and move away from the tracks at an angle toward the approaching train, not along them.