Imagine you pull up to railroad crossing and the safety measures to keep you safe, aren’t working. That’s what one Lubbock man witnessed on Monday afternoon. Thankfully, no one was injured because of the apparent malfunction, but it serves as a good reminder that you always need to be careful while driving.
When you first look at the photo above, it looks like a normal railroad crossing. But if you take a closer look, you can see the train rolling through the 82nd and Marsha Sharp intersection, the warning lights apparently not flashing and those barrier arms still up.
“Something is wrong here, there is definitely something wrong here,” said Jeremy Todd, on why he decided to snap the photo.
He tweeted that photo out to TxDot. BUt TxDot said these safety measures are up to the railroad company to monitor.
“It’s a major safety concern,” said Todd. “This is home, I don’t want anyone to die because of a train. Not everyone is paying attention especially now with texting and driving and phone calls.”
We reached out to the Lubbock and Western Railroad company which oversees this line of tracks, but did not get a call back.
Todd wanted to share this photo to remind people you can’t always rely on the road technology meant to keep us safe.
“As a driver in Lubbock, one of my biggest pet peeves is drivers thinking they’re the only ones on the road, they’re not,” Todd said. “They need to watch out for things that don’t stop like trains and it becomes a bigger safety issue if you’re not paying attention.”
As of now, that’s the only intersection we’re aware of that has had an issue. It’s also unclear if the malfunction is ongoing. If you see a railroad corssing not working properly, let police know.
