I have for you another drawing of a railway/ level crossing gate/ barrier.
This is not just a drawing though, this is supposed to be an illustration of how crossing gates/ barriers should be, not just in the U.S. but all over the world, although some of this is just my personal opinion.
Some time not too long ago, but I cannot remember if it was in 2012 or 2013, well, I believe it was in 2012, but I know it was some time after learning that railroad crossing gates should be vertically striped as opposed to diagonally striped, or having slanted stripes according to the Manual Uniform of Traffic Control Devices, or M.U.T.C.D. But don't just take my word for it:
stop-traffic.com/reflexite-rai… I found this website after discovering that some railroad crossings in Tucson have vertically striped gates in late 2011 through early 2012 at a few crossings whether on T.V. or in person, and there's a growing number of these kinds of gates and not just in Tucson but anywhere there are railroad crossings, whether it's a brand new crossing, or an upgraded crossing with gates being added to the crossing or gates being changed at a crossing.
Anyway, after learning that crossing gates in the U.S. now have to be vertically striped and can no longer be diagonally striped, and thinking about the vertically striped crossing gates I saw in Europe (e.g. Germany, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, United Kingdom, etc.) whether in person or in pictures, and also in Canada and some railroad crossings in Argentina, at least in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, it got me to thinking this:
How All Crossing Gates Should Be:
-Vertically Striped
-Red and White Striped
-Reflective Stripes
-(in my opinion) have exactly 3 red lights mounted directly on the gate-arm or barrier
And this makes a lot of sense. As said in the link I left, slanted stripes (on barricades) direct traffic to go left or right, but at a railroad crossing, you're supposed to stop, hence the vertical stripes (not completely written word-for-word). And I've seen this practiced in other countries and in Canada and the U.S. has recently started changing from diagonal striped gates to vertically striped gates and it's continuing, and it makes much more sense this way and should have been done a long time ago.
It is best the gates were red and white striped. Now I don't know exactly why red and white gates are used or started being used when previously they were unstriped, black and white striped, or black and yellow striped (some countries still use black and yellow gates, namely the Asian Countries like China and Japan) but I do like the red and white stripes and I know it is required. It must be because red means stop, although you're supposed to stop at any gate you come to whether it's guarding a railroad crossing or for some other use (like at a drawbridge, into a parking facility, into a restricted area, or wherever drop gates are used. But many places seem to require the use or red and white stripes on railway crossing gates. It is unknown to me exactly why this is required, but I do like this.
The gates also have to be reflective so that they are easier to see at night and so that they're not accidentally ran into, although the reflectiveness of gates doesn't guarantee the gate will not get ran into even by accident. But it's better to use reflective stripes, or reflective stripe tape than just simply painting a gate red and white, and even putting small red and white circle-shaped reflectors on gates.
Now this is just my opinion, but railroad/ railway gates should also have red lights mounted on them. Some countries including but not limited to the United States, mount lights on their gates, or are starting to or have started to. And in my opinion, all, or at least more countries, including Germany, should add lights to their gate-arms/ barriers, although admittedly it does seem redundant to have lights on gates, especially if there are signals with lights in place. I do like and don't mind gates without lights on them but I like gates better with lights than without, and that's how I'd do it if I had my own railroad whether in the U.S. or in another country. I'm also not sure why gates have lights on them, although my guess is to make them easier to see at night. And the lights should be red for the same reason traffic signals for STOP and railroad crossing signal lights are red. I'm also not sure why there's exactly three lights per gate arm, although in Argentina some gates only have two lights, and a few gates in the U.S. have been shown to have more than three lights on them for whatever reason.
As to the functionality of the gate lights, they can either be all-solid, all-flashing, whether simoltaniously or alternately, or as practiced in the U.S. and some other coutries, have the light at the tip of the gate sold while the other two lights flash alternately with the crossing signal lights, and this is how I would do it too.
If lights are used on the gates, preferably L.E.D. lighting is used as opposed to incandescent lighting, for energy efficiency and for improved or increased visibility. I mean incandescent lights can be used but L.E.D.s are best suited for the job, they're brighter and use less energy than incandescent lights. And truth be told, I prefer round lights to rectangular lights or other lights like manufactured by Alstom Aurora and Western Cullen Hayes. I also prefer red-lensed lights to clear-lensed lights even if the L.E.D.s do flash red though they appear white when not lighting up.
And maybe I shouldn't have but I also included railroad crossing signals in the picture: two U.S. (and Canadian Style) crossing signals, one signal used in the United Kingdom, and one kind of crossing signal, and the new kind, used in Germany. Regardless of what type of crossing signal is used, my preference being the two left signals in the picture, they should be accompanied by gates/ barriers that are vertically striped, reflective, red and white striped, and if desired, have red lights on them, preferably exactly three lights per gate.
And the gates can be wooden, metal, plastic, or fiberglass, and can be round or rectangular or any shape but I prefer rectangular or cylinder shaped; single bar or A-framed/ wishbone shaped, and some countries still use wishbone shaped gates but it's increasingly rare to find in the U.S. anymore. Admittedly, wood isn't the best to use for gates as wood can easily be broken and shattered, even if the gates are wishbone shaped, although wishbone gates are more reinforced than fully upright gates made of wood.
This was just something that's been on my mind and something I decided to draw a picture of and share. I do know that not everyone is going to agree with what is said. I mean I like to diagonally striped gates better to tell you the truth, but I welcome the use of vertically striped gates and agree it makes more sense to use vertically striped gates than to use gates with slanted stripes, which seem to send a mixed message. They mean stop, but then again the slanted stripes direct traffic to go left or right. But vertical stripes are best to use, and that is not my opinion.
