Turning off engines at level crossings

[OscarH]

So many people don't seem to turn off their engines at level crossings, and it's something I've never really understood. Even if you don't care about it being unpleasant for the locals, it's costing money by burning your fuel.

I suppose in summer you lose your air con, but still unless I'm missing something it just really doesn't make sense to me

 

[edwin_m]

People may worry that they won't start again and they'll be holding up the queue behind.

I've only had to stop at one level crossing in the last couple of years, and pretty sure I activated the autostop just as at a traffic light.

 

[ac6000cw]

At full-barrier or gated crossings, yes I turn it off. At half-barrier crossings I leave it running as the wait time is normally quite short.

As there are four full-barrier (with two quite busy with trains and hence sometimes lengthy, multiple train waits) and two half-barrier crossings close to where I live, I get stopped at them relatively frequently...

 

[NoRoute]

Having owned older cars that could be rough starting, I would be reluctant to stop the engine if it could hold up a queue of cars. Fine if parked up or pulled over, but a bit different if blocking the road for what might be a potentially short wait.

Since getting a hybrid, the engine is always off at level crossings, and at traffic lights, queues of traffic, pretty much whenever I'm not moving or moving at slow speeds. And the air-con continues to work because it's electric so doesn't need the engine running.

 

[jon0844]

More and more ICE vehicles have auto stop engines also.

 

[ExRes]

More and more ICE vehicles have auto stop engines also.

With, of course, an override facility

 

[jfollows]

I turn off the engine for the swing bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal in Warrington, but not for level crossings.

 

[Cowley]

I do at crossings I know reasonably well. Red Cow at Exeter and also Crediton are two that I frequently use and can have quite lengthy waiting times.

 

[zero]

I live near a level crossing and when walking past I think I've seen fewer than 5 ICE cars with engines off over the past 5 years.

What proportion of cars these days are likely to have "trouble starting"?

I estimate 98% of the vehicles at my level crossing are reasonably new, say 2011 or later, so they are very unlikely to have difficulty starting. I assume some of them would have auto stop, but the only cars which are quiet are electric/hybrid.

That said, during covid lockdown 1 I did run my car with a dead battery (needed to be jump started every time) so I wouldn't have turned it off had I driven through any level crossings, but I don't imagine that is a common situation.

Otherwise I always turn off the engine unless I see a train passing by.

I can accept air con as a valid reason although running the air con on battery isn't going to kill it in 5 minutes.

 

[Ashley Hill]

If I have to wait at a level crossing I always switch the engine off. Why waste petrol?

 

[OscarH]

I can see it more for AHBs

I estimate 98% of the vehicles at my level crossing are reasonably new, say 2011 or later, so they are very unlikely to have difficulty starting.

That's my thought too, if your engine might not restart then obviously you wouldn't, but that must be a tiny fraction

 

[Basil Jet]

So many people don't seem to turn off their engines at level crossings, and it's something I've never really understood. Even if you don't care about it being unpleasant for the locals, it's costing money by burning your fuel.

I suppose in summer you lose your air con, but still unless I'm missing something it just really doesn't make sense to me

The average vehicle uses very little fuel while stationary. Starter motors wear out and cost hundreds of pounds to replace, and they presumably wear out faster the more you start the engine. It is not obvious to me that switching an engine off at a traffic light (which is effectively what a level crossing is) saves money over the vehicle life.

 

[Lost property]

I think most people view being stationary at level crossings as simply being a short term delay because they assume, rightly or wrongly, that, if the barriers are down, then the train is due and will pass through hence the gates will open and progress continues.

This in contrast to a traffic jam (any road) or Motorway jam where you can expect to be stationary for some considerable time...and even more so once National Highways bring their expertise in incompetence into the delay.

 

[jfollows]

Last time I was held up at Navigation Road I turned off my engine, and determined never to use that route again if possible. Two trams and a freight train I think.

 

[swt_passenger]

Yes. The famously busy crossing at Mt Pleasant Southampton has signage asking drivers to switch off. “Long delay possible CUT engine CUT pollution”

 

[jmh59]

I can't remember the last time I crossed a crossing but anyway I voted 'no' because the car is electric!

 

[Trackman]

I don't.
The only time I do is with one of those rural canal manually controlled swing bridges. It ain't a 2 minute of a job. You are in for a wait if you see those red lights flashing.
We had our revenge in Settle though.. that's another story!

 

[Lucan]

I estimate 98% of the vehicles at my level crossing are reasonably new, say 2011 or later, so they are very unlikely to have difficulty starting.

I have had two experiences of batteries failing suddenly in recent years, leaving me unable to re-start - once in a car park and once in a M-way hold-up. "Fortunately" in the latter case I was in the inner lane and able to push my car onto the hard shoulder, where the issue was even worse because a short while later a police car needed to come along the shoulder.

Batteries did not used to do this - they deteriorated gradually and gracefully. In my impoverished 20's I would keep an dying battery going for months with over-night charging, carrying it indoors to my flat to do so. Newer designs of batteries however go from fine and dandy to dead with no warning.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

If I have to wait at a level crossing I always switch the engine off. Why waste petrol?

Especially at some level crossings where the wait could be 5, 10, 15+ minutes

 

[Krokodil]

There are plenty of people who will idle for half an hour outside a primary school.

 

[Lost property]

Especially at some level crossings where the wait could be 5, 10, 15+ minutes

15 mins seems an excessive amount of time...could you offer any examples of such a lengthy delay....and why ?

 

[jfollows]

15 mins seems an excessive amount of time...could you offer any examples of such a lengthy delay....and why ?

Navigation Road, as per my earlier post! It certainly seemed like it anyway, perhaps 10 minutes in reality.

 

[Lost property]

Navigation Road, as per my earlier post! It certainly seemed like it anyway, perhaps 10 minutes in reality.

Navigation Rd has been notorious for delays for years !....I speak with plenty of experience here, but I suggest never 15 mins.

 

[Ediswan]

15 mins seems an excessive amount of time...could you offer any examples of such a lengthy delay....and why ?

A friend of mine has reported early morning waste trains reversing towards Barrington Quarry/Landfill blocking Foxton crossing for 20 minutes.

 

[Krokodil]

I remember the compressor on a 175 freezing and the unit getting stuck on Deganwy Crossing for a significant length of time. Not a regular occurrence, mercifully.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So many people don't seem to turn off their engines at level crossings, and it's something I've never really understood. Even if you don't care about it being unpleasant for the locals, it's costing money by burning your fuel.

I suppose in summer you lose your air con, but still unless I'm missing something it just really doesn't make sense to me

I generally leave that decision to the stop-start facility of my car, and I suspect these days that's the norm. This decides for me based on things like load on the electrics (e.g. if the fan is on) and on the battery's charge level.

 

[edwin_m]

Batteries did not used to do this - they deteriorated gradually and gracefully. In my impoverished 20's I would keep an dying battery going for months with over-night charging, carrying it indoors to my flat to do so. Newer designs of batteries however go from fine and dandy to dead with no warning.

I'm rather amazed, with all the tech they have these days, that cars can't or don't give a warning that the battery is deteriorating. Both our previous car (without stop-start) and our current one (with it) went from starting first time every time directly to totally dead.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm rather amazed, with all the tech they have these days, that cars can't or don't give a warning that the battery is deteriorating.

That's quite a good point, as the stop start facility does monitor loads and battery voltage to determine whether to stop or not. Thus it at least has an idea.

 

[stuu]

Batteries did not used to do this - they deteriorated gradually and gracefully. In my impoverished 20's I would keep an dying battery going for months with over-night charging, carrying it indoors to my flat to do so. Newer designs of batteries however go from fine and dandy to dead with no wawarning.

Is it perhaps the car that has decided the battery isn't providing enough power any more?

 

[Merle Haggard]

I'm rather amazed, with all the tech they have these days, that cars can't or don't give a warning that the battery is deteriorating. Both our previous car (without stop-start) and our current one (with it) went from starting first time every time directly to totally dead.

Someone I know well has a towing wagon (used generally for buses) and it has some high tech features, one of which is that it detects deterioration of the battery. But when it does so (as he found out the hard way on the M25) it doesn't merely advise that it would be unwise to turn off the engine because it won't start - it shuts down everything and stops the vehicle. So be careful what you wish for, as they say.