Google Maps to get U.S. railroad crossing data to help avert accidents

That would be a real project to input every grade level train crossing in the US.

I'm sure the FRA & the Homeland Sexy Agency has all this data... Ripe for the picking.. Shouldn't be too difficult to convert from one fit to another..

The really ugly situations, much like the RLC's and SPEED cans are where they can only be crossed in one direction... Not many, but there are a few where you can cross in one direction of a road but not going the other way..

Looks like the FRA is making the data available from here

http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Down...

....interesting.

on a state by state or national basis

Hwy-Rail Crossing Inventory by State
Public Crossings (National File Only)
Private Crossings (National File Only)

but then to sort it out, you need to get the document
6180.71 - Highway Rail Crossing Inventory - THru 3/6/20

Knowing this crowd of over achievers, someone could knock this little project out before July 1, 2015!

Looks like all the data's available

from the looks of things there are about 218 thousand public crossings and mere 203 thousand private crossings!!

Like I said... Knowing this group....

Hmmmm... I wonder how many POI's Garmin can handle????

A car was crushed by a train crossing today. The accident was blamed on the driver being distracted by his GPS...

that's why I like the turn by turn voice commands in towns looking at the gps is like texting in town its too distracting .

The other day I was texting while driving 65 mph on a rural road, changing my destination on the GPS while fighting with my wife and tried to pass a slow moving farm tractor on a no-passing-zone hill with a railroad crossing on the crest and almost ran into a train!

I could have used the POI railroad file ...

I'm joking folks.

That is why I love the built in nav in my GM car. In addition to the voice nav prompts the turn direction, distance and street name also appear in the heads up windshield display so no need to look away from the road ahead to know when or where to turn.

From my cars owners manual:

http://home.comcast.net/~rjrsw2012/pwpimages/Hud%20display%2...

If I'm in an unfamiliar area, the last thing I need is to take my eyes off the road. I am trying to be extra vigilant, so voice prompts are a necessity. Even if the GPS is on the windshield, I want my focus to be outside the car, not inside.

Well that's at least 2 accident reports I've heard about that claim the driver was "distracted" by the GPS. Careful now, or the Nanny's will be getting another BAN law authorized. Of course, it doesn't matter if the reports are true or not, as long as we are "saved" by our Nanny.