970479 Though more expensive, four quadrant gates, where both sides of a road are blocked by gates on both sides of a rail line, have reduced accidents at grade crossings with a high rate of violators who had previous tried to run around lowered gates. This four-quadrant gate is located on Norfolk Southern tracks in Morrisville, N.C. The train is the north bound Amtrak "Carolinian."

To alleviate concerns about vehicles being trapped between the gates, the gates do not lower simultaneously. The right hand (entry) gates on each side of the track close first, giving any traffic in the crossing time to exit. In addition, all crossing gates are designed to break if sufficient force is applied by a trapped vehicle.

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