Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:173.1 – Railroad grade crossings; stopping required
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:173.1
- Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails, but excluding a motorized bicycle and an electric-assisted bicycle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- School bus: means every motor vehicle that is used to transport students to and from school or in connection with school activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Stop: means , when required, the complete cessation from movement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- stopping: means , when prohibited, any halting, even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer, weights and standards police officer, or traffic control sign or signal. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Vehicle: means every device by which persons or things may be transported upon a public highway or bridge, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
A. All buses transporting passengers and all commercial motor vehicles who are required to abide by 49 C.F.R. part 392.10, as amended, relative to methods by which a commercial motor vehicle carrying certain materials and buses transporting passengers, shall stop at railroad grade crossings within fifty feet of, and not closer than fifteen feet to, the tracks; thereafter, the driver shall listen and look in each direction along the tracks for an approaching train and ascertain that no train is approaching. When it is safe to do so, the driver may drive the commercial motor vehicle or bus across the tracks in a gear that permits the commercial motor vehicle to complete the crossing without a change of gears.
B. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the driver of any motor vehicle carrying passengers for hire, or of any school bus whether carrying any school child or not, before crossing at grade any track or tracks of a railroad, shall stop such vehicle within fifty feet, but not less than fifteen feet, from the nearest rail of such railroad and while so stopped shall listen and look in both directions along such track for any approaching train, and for signals indicating the approach of a train, except as hereinafter provided, and shall not proceed until he can do so safely. After stopping as required herein and upon proceeding, when it is safe to do so, the driver of any said vehicle shall cross only in such gear of the vehicle that there will be no necessity for changing gears while traversing such crossing, and the driver shall not shift gears while crossing the track or tracks.
C. The driver of any school bus, in addition to the requirements of Subsection B of this Section, after coming to a complete stop, shall open the door of the school bus and shall leave it open while ascertaining that no train or other vehicle is approaching on the railroad track from either side and until immediately prior to proceeding over the railroad crossing.
Acts 2008, No. 614, §1.