Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:168

  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
  • person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
  • Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
  • Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1

A.  Every railroad company or person owning and operating a railroad in this state shall equip each locomotive engine with a bell and a whistle or horn which, under normal conditions, can be heard at a distance of not less than one quarter of a mile.

B.  Except as specifically exempted by law, any person controlling the motion of an engine on any railroad shall commence sounding the audible signal when such engine is approaching and not less than one quarter of a mile from the place where such railroad crosses any highway.  Such sounding shall be prolonged either continuously or by blasts of the whistle or horn to be sounded in the manner provided by the Uniform Code of Railroad Operating Rules until the engine has crossed the roadway, unless the distance from that crossing to the start of the movement or the distance between the crossings is less than one quarter of a mile, in which event such warning signals shall be so sounded for the lesser distance.   In cases of emergency said whistles or horn may be sounded in repeated short blasts.

C.  The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the Kansas City Southern railroad line which runs parallel to Perkins Road in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Added by Acts 1982, No. 669, §1; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 83, §1, eff. March 1, 1999; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 121, §2.