Crash on Neyland RR Tracks

[Carlito]

My girlfriend and I were driving down Neyland on Saturday around 2:00 and saw a woman who had just crashed her road bike on the railroad tracks there. We stopped to check on her. Luckily she seemed to have just rang her bell and gotten a little freaked out. No breaks or road rash to speak of, and she had the good fortune to be riding with a doctor. I really felt for her though. Told her she better buy a new helmet! Apparently she went straight down onto her shoulder then her head. I was actually surprised her collar bone didn't break. Those tracks are treacherous! It was a good reminder that things that seem obvious to me (like getting a good angle when crossing rail road tracks) are not so obvious to beginners.

[obfuscated]

Those tracks are awful. I've seen cyclists go down there and I've heard of experienced riders eating it there as well. I don't know that the powers that be could do much about them to improve their safety due to the angle at which they run across the road and the width of the gaps in the pavement. Signs on either side of the road and a significantly extended shoulder would be good starters.

[Tom]

How about some thing even simpler, like white painted arrows, to show you how to cross?

[COG]

My wife crashed hard there and wasn't able to get back on her bike for 4 months. I was just ahead of her that day and my bike squirmed a little going across. Anyone with experience at that crossing will take it slow at that crossing. I can still hear and see my beloved wife hitting the pavement there. I think there is indeed some negative energy at that crossing and we should all avoid it. I think the only system that uses that rail is the crappy little tourist train that runs in a circle. This is for all of you that have been bitten by that snake on Neyland.

[Tom]

How about some thing even simpler, like white painted arrows, to show you how to cross?

Something similar to this: http://www.streetfilms.org/how-to-prope ... your-bike/

[phideaux]

Missed the crossover on the greenway busted my ass on those dam things. Tore my shorts and literally my ass was hanging out of my shorts, that was the first time i took a cell phone riding.

[ericmoritz]

That was the second place I crashed when I first started riding. It's horrible. You basically have to cross diagonally across the right hand lane. If you're not absolutely ready to cross them, you risk eating it on the tracks or eating the side of a car.

I generally just suck it up and hop on the greenway at the intersection a mile back.

[bikeprogram]

Unfortunately the City is not allowed to do anything to fix/improve RR crossings--it's up to the RR company.

There ARE warning signs for bicyclists at that crossing though. People just don't seem to pay attention to them. We got the signs put in about 3 or 4 years ago.

[ngchen]

Yes, some of the signs were just recently updated. As someone who's very careful around RR tracks, I make a point to always slow way down and look carefully (Reminder: the train ALWAYS has the right of way relative to a non-train! ) before crossing. That way, even if one does crash, the damage is substantially reduced. And yes I try to cross as close to a 90 deg angle as possible.