As would seem obvious, the two don't mix very well. While checking the PO Box the other day, I heard the approaching siren, then it abruptly stopped as I was pulling out onto the road. Just a short distance from the post office, traffic was stopped at one of Vail's two railroad grade crossings. When the fire/rescue truck pulled into the left lane before the train passed, I thought for a second that it was going to attempt to go around the crossing gates ahead of the train. Just as that idea entered my mind, the trains locomotives reached the intersection, and the fire truck was stuck with the rest of us.
I'm guessing that with the volume of railroad traffic through our community, this sort of thing happens with some sort of regularity. I know that Patty and I occasionally get stuck, waiting for a train to pass by, but we're hardly ever in a huge hurry, so it's not a big deal for us. I hope the call for fire/rescue in this case wasn't a life threatening situation, because this truck was delayed for several minutes. Hmmmm, I wonder if the railroad has ever been sued because one of their trains held up an ambulance, or a fire/rescue rig. With the ever increasing number of frivolous lawsuits filed every year, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. During my career in traffic law enforcement, I investigated a few train versus vehicle collisions, and one thing was never in doubt........the train always wins!
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