[Patch] safer level crossings (r14264)

[sulai]

This patch makes level crossings safer!

With this patch, not only road vehicles stop for trains, but also trains stop for road vehicles.

Summary:
- road vehicles are safer
- trains get slower, because they sometimes have to wait
- the rail track builder has to care about the safety of road vehicles (not the road vehicle owner)

Comments greatly appreciated =)

[Tvel]

Sounds very good. I was always annoyed when trains crash road vehicles this way.
Nice work!

[Brianetta]

Is it still possible, with this patch, to use PBS signals to close a level crossing to traffic in advance? Assume for a moment that, as a train operator, I don't want any of my trains to stop for road vehicles.

[Gremnon]

Now there's an idea. Is it possible to reverse the usual behaviour of crossings, so that instead of vehicles stopping, the engines have to?
It would cut down on the amount of crashes you get...

[Brianetta]

Now there's an idea. Is it possible to reverse the usual behaviour of crossings, so that instead of vehicles stopping, the engines have to?
It would cut down on the amount of crashes you get...

That seems to be what this patch does. Not sure I like it; I don't really care how many trucks my snow ploughs^W^Wtrains hit.

[sulai]

Is it still possible, with this patch, to use PBS signals to close a level crossing to traffic in advance? Assume for a moment that, as a train operator, I don't want any of my trains to stop for road vehicles.

Trains and road vehicles have equal rights on a level crossing. The first one there blocks the crossing for the other direction. A train has to stop for a vehicle in exactly that cases, where normally there would have been a crash.

The patch makes level crossings more interesting: The traffic load of a level crossing now concerns both the train manager and the road vehicle manager. The road vehicle owner is no longer disadvantaged. The vehicles of both managers are safe (assumed PBS is used only), but the traffic load is limited. Both players now have to bother about that issue and may build bridges or take another route.

[Brianetta]

If some of us get our way and railways vehicles become unable to stop magically for a red signal, this isn't going to be very helpful. To stop a train could need several tiles' notice. There's no guarantee this will happen, but it might be something to bear in mind. FWIW, I'd be unhappy to make my trains stop for vehicles, and would arrange my signalling in the favour of trains no matter what. Trains don't stop for road vehicles in the UK any more; it's just not possible to stop them now they go so fast.

[WWTBAM]

I agree and it takes just as long to get back to speed especially when other slow/stop because of a stopped one. I also feel this could be abused in mp by placing a RV on the tracks and not sending it off on a route.

[sulai]

I agree and it takes just as long to get back to speed especially when other slow/stop because of a stopped one. I also feel this could be abused in mp by placing a RV on the tracks and not sending it off on a route.

In that case, let your train ignore the signal and just crash the stopped vehicle

... I'd be unhappy to make my trains stop for vehicles, and would arrange my signalling in the favour of trains no matter what...

Thats what this patch does: not only the road vehicle manger has to react on a level crossing, but the train manager too. Give this patch a try and you'll see how it plays

[Eddi]

i don't see much point in this patch, trains should never care about road vehicles. the YAPP signals already can make sure the crossings are closed way in advance (which dictates a long signal distance, which already has enough consequences on gameplay). more effort should be taken to make sure that road vehicles never stop on a crossing, so multiple adjacent crossings should close simultaneously, and vehicles already on the crossings must be able to leave, so they won't stop in the middle of such a multi-tile crossing.

there was a "trains break down when they crash with a road vehicle" patch a while back. that could be a suitible annoyance for the train controller.

[michael blunck]

Trains don't stop for road vehicles in the UK any more

Wouldn´t that be too "realistic"? Isn´t this "a game"?

regards
Michael

[Brianetta]

Trains don't stop for road vehicles in the UK any more

Wouldn´t that be too "realistic"? Isn´t this "a game"?

A case of real life imitating TTD, perhaps. (:

[sulai]

For those who are interested: also have a look at this patch: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=27184

It makes road vehicles stop in front of level crossings if they can't reach the tile after the crossing.

[Sacro]

Trains don't stop for road vehicles in the UK any more

Actually, most crossings have a signal that protects it and that won't clear until the crossing is confirmed as clear, TT crossings look like Automatic Half Barrier and they are CCTV or locally monitored.

[Eddi]

that might be worth considering, but it will be a big annoyance for the trains without advance signals, as they'd mostly have to stop be{fore,hind} the signal before the last road vehicle clears the crossing.

in germany on some very small branch lines (or when the crossing is broken), the trains have to do a full stop to secure the crossing manually, but i think gameplay would suffer too much from such a "feature". it's the point where i agree with Belugas, too much realism can harm the gameplay, and gameplay is more important.

[ostlandr]

Not sure I would use this patch myself.

And after reading through some accident reports from the Federal Railroad Administration, it seems as if (at least here in the US) the behavior of road vehicles vs. protected crossings is very realistic.

Here's a thought: have crossbucks (the plain signs from the "old" roads in the North American road set) be the default crossing, and work like the current crossings. Be able to build a better crossing, with lights, gates, etc. Then have RV accidents drive down the local authority rating.
Then if there are lots of RV accidents, the player will need to upgrade the crossings or get real unpopular with the local authority.

[phil88]

I've always thought a better way of 'fixing' the level crossing would be instead of the default behaviour where the crossing stops RVs when a train is half a tile away from the crossing - have the distance from the crossing depend on the speed the train is going. So, a slow steam train will trigger the crossing at half a tile, but a much faster express passenger train would trigger it from maybe 2 tiles away.

I think having the trains stop for RVs is a bit of the wrong-way-round.

[sulai]

I think so, too. I've peeked that from locomotion, where level crossings close for trains like they do for road vehicles.

I think a very good solution is this one, plus a speed limit for trains near the level crossing (depending on how many adjacent level crossings there are).

[michael blunck]

I've peeked that from locomotion, where level crossings close for trains like they do for road vehicles.

Yes. But that´s typical "Old English" style, and in no way exemplary (like driving on the wrong side of the road and other curiosities ).

Eynsham.jpg (33.13 KiB) Viewed 4725 times

[picture: www.martin.loader.btinternet.co.uk]

regards
Michael

[WWTBAM]

I've peeked that from locomotion, where level crossings close for trains like they do for road vehicles.

Yes. But that´s typical "Old English" style, and in no way exemplary (like driving on the wrong side of the road and other curiosities ).

Eynsham.jpg

[picture: http://www.martin.loader.btinternet.co.uk]

regards
Michael

I have intentionally stopped a road vehicle on a crossing in locomotion and the train went straight trhough it but of course lomo doesn't have train with rv collisions.