It seems clear after the Oct. 25 tragedy involving the commuter train hitting the school bus in Fox River Grove that more thought needs to be put into the traffic-signaling system. Officials state that these systems are designed to allow 14 seconds for traffic to clear the tracks when an oncoming train has triggered the rail-crossing system. It now seems clear that these 14 seconds are at least a few seconds too few and provide just enough time to trap a vehicle in the path of an oncoming train.
Perhaps it would be better to err on the side of safety and allow the light to remain green for a whole minute instead of trying to calculate the precise number of seconds required to clear the tracks. Cross traffic would be slightly more inconvenienced, but I have to believe most of us would be willing to wait an extra minute to prevent this horrible type of accident from happening again.
