news-record.com

Sometimes all you need to solve a potentially serious problem is common sense and a pair of strategically placed stop signs.

That's how the railroad giant, Norfolk Southern, addressed the inherent danger of two active downtown railroad tracks laid uncomfortably close to two active downtown nightclubs.

Now flanking the tracks on either side are stop signs that include warnings to look both ways before crossing. "Which sort of indicates that a train might be coming and you ought to look," says Chris Maney, a special agent with the Norfolk Southern police force.

Not realizing they were still being used, some people were parking on the tracks, both of which serve massive freight trains, one of them several trains a day. In one of the more harrowing cases, a tow truck struggled to free a car that had become wedged so snugly between the rails that it wouldn't budge.

Fortunately, the truck eventually pulled the car loose, sparing the poor owner the sight of a locomotive doing him that favor.

The clubs in question are the Lotus Lounge and Club Rain. One track runs across the road between the two night spots. The other, even busier track winds between Club Rain and a car detailing shop and is almost close enough to the neighboring properties you can reach out and touch a passing train.

No one would ever build an establishment that close to a railroad right-of-way today, says Capt. Wayne Scott of the Greensboro Police Department. But the tracks and buildings are carry-overs from "horse and buggy" days, when attitudes about trains and safety were obviously more casual.

Apparently, about as casual as some people's attitudes today about where to park while they party.

Why would someone be so, well, stupid as to leave his car on a train track?

The answer may lie in deceptive appearances. The tracks closest to the Lotus Lounge on West Lewis Street are rusty and overgrown with weeds. Some people may assume they are abandoned. There also was no marked railroad crossing, no warning signs and no indication to motorists that the public street ends and becomes a private drive as it crosses the tracks.

Otherwise, it's hard to imagine anyone would park there not knowing for certain that a train won't come. Whatever their logic (or lack thereof), people have.

Beyond the safety problem were the repeat calls to police, who have better things to do with their time, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Thankfully, the railroad posted the new signs last week n response to an earlier News & Record editorial about the area with the signs.

It came as a pleasant surprise. When initially contacted, Norfolk Southern hadn't seemed all that interested. "At this point, we don't plan to put up anymore signs," Robin Chapman, a railroad spokesman, said in August. "It's just common sense you don't park on railroad tracks."

Except that people do, as they did earlier this summer. "We dealt with several cars that night," Capt. Scott recalled about June 27, after the Super Jam concert at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Club Rain has since lost its liquor license, but it's still safe to assume that some new night spot will succeed it on that site, just as two others preceded it.

Acting city Transportation Director Adam Fischer said he wasn't aware of the problem. "My first response would be kind of like the railroad," he said last week. "Why are you parking there in the first place?"

But he also agreed that some additional signs from the city would be helpful, maybe even a barrier. "At the minimum, we need to post 'No Parking' signs," Fischer said.

Both Fischer and the railroad spokesman, Robin Chapman, are right, when they note that parking on tracks on a hunch that no trains will come is inherently dumb. But so is texting while driving an automobile, or running a red light.

Trains, in particular, are big, noisy things that ring bells, blow horns and flash lights to let you know they're coming. Even so, in 2008, according to the state Department of Transportation, there were 69 collisions involving trains and vehicles in North Carolina, resulting in eight deaths and 27 injuries. There were 36 incidents involving pedestrians, resulting in 17 deaths and 19 injuries.

The most recent incident occurred a week ago today, when an Amtrak train struck a pedestrian in downtown Raleigh. The engineer blew his horn, and two of the pedestrians ran into the woods. But a third person remained on the tracks and was hit, suffering "substantial injuries."

The best anyone can do is post more signs and hope and pray common sense arrives before the next train.