Railroad sensors a safety measure for motorists

Doctor Detour answers your transportation questions.

Q: What’s with the Tri-Rail crossing on Hollywood Boulevard at Interstate 95? This crossing has been a nuisance for years. Can’t they move the track sensors so they only activate the crossing gates and lights when a train is about to cross Hollywood Boulevard? — Neil Walter, Hollywood

A: It’s a safety measure built into the signal system, according to Bonnie Arnold, with TriRail.

It protects motorists and pedestrians at a railroad crossing in close proximity to a station in the event a train overshoots the platform and ends up on Hollywood Boulevard in traffic. There are several train stations very close to the crossings, including those near Hillsboro Boulevard, and Sample, Yamato and Lake Worth roads.

If the train has to wait at a station longer than expected then the engineer can open the gates remotely and close them before departing the station.

Traffic signal timing can also be affected at railroad crossings, meaning longer waits at red lights even though the gates are up.

Q: Why do football team buses traveling to Hard Rock Stadium get police escorts at high speed with full lights and sirens? Why can’t teams just leave a little earlier and fight traffic just as we mere mortals have to? — Larry Groshart, Fort Lauderdale

A: It’s a sports tradition, says Larry Wahl, with the Orange

Bowl. All teams have their rituals when preparing for a game and this is one of them.

Players eat their pregame meal at a certain time, maybe 5 hours before a game, they get on the bus about 2 to 3 hours before the game, and they get a police escort to the game, as do the game officials and even shuttle buses for the visiting media in some cases.

Police typically escort team buses along the median or shoulder of the highway if there’s too much traffic in the general purpose lanes so that should not contribute to the congestion.

Teams don’t want their players to get to the stadium too early then sit around for hours or too late and warmup too quickly and risk injury or exhaustion before the game.