Citations Affected: IC 8-6-15; IC 9-21-12-5.
Synopsis: Abandoned railroad crossings. Requires the Indiana
department of transportation to identify railroad grade crossings that
are abandoned or unused and to designate them as exempt crossings.
Requires designated crossings to be marked with an official exemption
sign that is posted and maintained in conformance with the Indiana
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways.
Specifies that for an abandoned railroad grade crossing to be exempt
from the law requiring school buses, private buses, motor vehicles
carrying passengers for hire, and vehicles carrying explosive or
flammable liquids to stop and proceed in a certain manner at railroad
crossings, the abandoned crossing must be designated as exempt and
marked with an official exemption sign.
Effective: July 1, 2003.
January 15, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on Interstate and International
Cooperation.
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
utilities and transportation.
not apply to the following:
(1) A street railway grade crossing within a business or residence
district.
(2) Abandoned or unused tracks. railroad grade crossings that
are:
(A) designated as exempt by the Indiana department of
transportation under IC 8-6-15-2; and
(B) marked with an official exemption sign that complies
with the requirements of IC 8-6-15-3.
(b) A person who drives:
(1) a motor vehicle carrying passengers for hire;
(2) a school or private bus that is carrying passengers; or
(3) a vehicle carrying explosive substances or flammable liquids
as a cargo or part of a cargo;
shall, before crossing at grade a track of a railroad, stop the vehicle not
more than fifty (50) feet and not less than fifteen (15) feet from the
nearest rail of the railroad.
(c) While stopped in accordance with subsection (b), the person
shall do the following:
(1) Listen through an open window or door.
(2) Look in both directions along the track for an approaching
train and for signals indicating the approach of a train.
(3) Not proceed until the person can proceed safely.
After stopping the person shall cross only in a gear of the vehicle so
there will be no necessity for changing gears while traversing the
crossing. The person who drives the vehicle may not shift gears while
crossing the track or tracks.
(d) If a police officer or traffic control signal directs traffic to
proceed at a railroad crossing, the person who drives a vehicle subject
to this section shall proceed in accordance with the instructions of the
police officer or traffic control signal.