sarah feinberg is the federal railroad administrator but if the technology is there, why does it keep happening? >> if the traffic signal is working the way that it should, if it's connectedly the right way to the railroad crossing equipment, we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight, the federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory, asking states to inspect the traffic signals at roughly 5,000 interconnected railroad crossings nationwide. >> it's really important to monitor these lights to make sure that the signals are not losing a second over time, to make sure that traffic's moving through. >> whenever drivers are approaching railroad tracks, they just have to assume that a train is coming. >> reporter: dr. lanny wilson's 14-year-old daughter, lauren, died when the car she was riding in was struck by a train. >> it seemed like she had the world on a string, sitting on a her until that crash. and then since then, we've done a lot to try to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families. >> reporter: regulators

visit mattress firm, america's number one >> pelley: the federal railroad administration is imploring states to inspect stop lights at rail crossings. many of them are not timed properly. kris van cleave is looking into this. >> reporter: federal regulators say this shouldn't happen. a traffic light did not turn green long enough to give this semi truck enough time to get off the tracks before the train approached. the driver survived, but many don't. since 2013, 96 have died, another 419 were hurt at intersections where the stop lights are lights are interconnected with the railroad equipment. sarah feinberg is the federal railroad administrator but if the technology is there, why does it keep happening? >> if the traffic signal is working the way that it should, if it's connectedly the right way to the railroad crossing equipment, we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight, the federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory, asking states to inspect the traffic signals at roughly 5,000 >> it's really important to monitor

presentation brought to you by narei, the national association of real estate >>> the federal railroad administration is imploring states to inspect stop lights at rail crossings. many of them are not timed properly. kris van cleave is looking into >> reporter: federal regulators say this shouldn't happen. a traffic light did not turn green long enough to give this semitruck enough time to get off the tracks before the train approached. the driver survived, but many don't. since 2013, 96 have died. another 419 were hurt at intersections where the stop lights are interconnected with the railroad equipment. sarah fineberg. >> if the traffic signal is working, connected the right way to the railroad crossing equipment we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory asking the states to inspect the traffic signals at railroad crossings nationwide. >> really important to monitor the lights to make sure signals are not losing a second over team to make sure the traffic is moving through. >> whenever dri

. >> pelley: the federal railroad administration is imploring states to inspect stop lights at rail crossings. gh many of them are not timed t this. >> reporter: federal regulators say this shouldn't happen. a traffic light did not turn green long enough to give this semi truck enough time to get off the tracks before the train approached. the driver survived, but many don't. since 2013, 96 have died, another 419 were hurt at intersections where the stop ec lights are interconnected with the railroad equipment. sarah feinberg is the federal railroad administrator but if the technology is there, why does it keep happening? >> if the traffic signal is ay if it's connected the right way il equipment, we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight, the federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory, asking states to inspect the ns traffic signals at roughly 5,000 interconnected railroad crossings nationwide. >> it's really important to monitor these lights to make sure that the signals are not losing a second over time, to make sure that

>>> the federal railroad administration is imploring states to inspect stop l lhts at rail crossings. many of them are not timed properly. this. >> reporter: federal regulators say this shouldn't happen. a traffic light did not turn green long enough to give this semitruck enough time to get off the tracks before the train approached. the driver survived, but many don't. since 2013, 96 have died. another 419 were hurt at intersections where the stop lights are interconnected with the railroad equipment. sarah fineberg. >> if the traffic signal is s working, connected the right way to the railroad crossing equipment we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory asking the states to inspect the traffic signals at railroad >> really important to monitor are not losing a second over team to make sure the traffic is moving through. >> whenever drivers are approaching railroad tracks, they just have to assume that a train is coming. >> reporter: dr. lany wilson's 14-year-old daughter l

>>> the federal railroad administration is imploring states to inspect stop lights at rail crossings. many of them are not timed properly. this. >> reporter: federal regulators say this shouldn't happen. a traffic light did not turn green long enough to give this semitruck enough time to get off the tracks before the train approached. the driver survived, but many don't. since 2013, 96 have died. another 419 were hurt at intersections where the stop lights are interconnected with the railroad equipment. sarah fineberg. >> if the traffic signal is working, connected the right way to the railroad crossing equipment we should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight federal railroad administration is issuing a safety advisory asking the states to inspect the traffic signals at railroad crossings nationwide. >> really important to monitor team to make sure the traffic is moving through. >> whenever drivers are approaching railroad tracks, they just have to assume that a train is coming. >> reporter: dr. lany wilson's 14-year-old daughter lauren die

should be able to keep people off the track when a train is coming. >> reporter: tonight federal railroad administration is issuing a safety adviseory asking the states to inspect the traffic signals at railroad crossings nationwide. >> really important to monitor the lights to make sure signals are not losing a second over team to make sure the traffic is moving through. >> whenever drivers are approaching railroad tracks, they just have to assume that a >> reporter: dr. lany wilson's 14-year-old daughter lauren died when the car sunny was riding in was struck by a train. >> seemed like she had the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow. we were there with her until the crash. then since then we have, we have done a lot to try to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families. >> reporter: regulators are asking that event recorders be installed in these traffic signals to help determine if the signals are factoring into accidents. scott, regulators are working with google to share gps data so one day drivers will be warned as they're approaching train tracks. >> chris, thanks. >>> today, pope f

the state requested money from the federal railroad administration to improve safety on rail lines that carry millions of gallons of volatile crude, but with only $10 million available and more than $50 million in applications from all across the country, the government says it could not fill every request. >>> asian american groups will tomorrow in support of peter liang. organizes say that rallies will also be held nationwide in 40 other cities. city council member margaret chin has called for leniency when liang is sentenced in april. >>> and hundreds of police officers stood outside a yonkers church paying respects to a detective killed in a horrific car accident. detective frank fernandez was laid to rest five days after his suv slammed into a fire truck. he was a 15 year veteran of the police department. the yonkers police commissioner called him a go-to guy. >>> coming up, a news 4 exclusive. our melissa rus koe so gets firsthand access to a program aimed at helping foster children who come with home from homes with drug and violence problems. the weekend forecast. >> and this we

in a letter this week, the federal railroad administration formally calls on states to test crossing signals, gates and the recording devices used to monitor them. >>> new york's fight with the white house over homeland security funding has gone from heated to boiling with the police commissioner saying today it seems like nothing more than petty political pay back. the front page of today's daily news even accusing the president of forgetting the lessons of 9/11. >> new york city say it's going to lose $90 million under the obama security plan. the nypd says that means it will have to cut counter terror patrols, training and equipment upgrades. new york officials not the only ones complaining. new jersey too says it is being hit hard. now, all four senators criticizing the white house, s at a time of yheightened threats. the white house spokesman did not back down, taking aim at senator schumer. that brought in back and forth today from the nypd and the white house spokesman. >> what the hell does the iran deal have to do with this issue? that's politics. so basically what the white

to the north carolina transportation museum for the annual inspection required by the federal railroad administration. the queen of steam will get an extensive check-up including boiler tests, but lindsay says she'll be ready for the spring exurcions. tickets for the 2016 excursions go on sale this month. firefighters were on the scene of this massive building fire just outside of los angeles, california this morning . right now there's no word on any injuries. the fire was combustible materials and propane cylinders, firefighters were able to get it under control by late morning. a toronto woman has netflix to thank after an s-u-v home over the weekend. it happened yesterday morning. according to local says the vehicle would have hit her had she not decided she says her husband slept through the whole thing. neither one of them was hurt. police say the driver of the s-u-v had to go to the hospital, okay. the driver's also charged with driving while impaired. general motors wants to accelerate its plans to bring self-driving cars to the road. g-m is creating a team to focus on self-driving research s

. >> reporter: on-site former federal railroad administration officials said that redundanceies should have been in place. >> the system would detect a fault, and move over to an operating component and the system would go on as it's supposed to. >> reporter: amtrak officials say they have beefed up their backup system or redundanceies as they call them. but they say they don't expect it to happen again. and they say breakdowns like the one we saw yesterday are extremely rare. christina hager wbz news back to you. >> all right thank you. >>> turning to the weather and spring officially is 30 days away. >> but we have not seen the we have three chances for snow ahead and with more on that we want to go over to eric fisher. >> things interesting in the weather department. it's february after all. number one is tonight early tomorrow morning a little bit of snowfall out there coatings to an inch and another one sunday night into monday morning that's also fairly minor event and still watching the middle of next week which might be a more prolonged wintry weather but for the evening let's

on monday, the federal railroad administration says no changes have been mailed at the crossing. the final report is due out this sum every. >>> much of the country is dealing with the aftermath of dangerous weather. cell phone camera caught this tornado touching down. this is pickens county, alabama. the tornado left a pah of destruction taking out several trees and power lines. only minor injuries have been reported. tornadoes hit south carolina, eastern mississippi. extensive reports of damage there. that same system brought the tornadoes in the south. it happened in the middle part of the country. blizzards here. drivers finding whiteout conditions and snowy, slippery roads. portions of several interstates were shut down. co jlorado, nebraska, kansas and iowa. the same states under deep heavy snow. thr ey got 10 inches of snow there in some places. not dealing with the upper, upper midwest. just the midwest. >> especially for communities not used to that amount. >>> 4:34. time for weather and traffic on the 4s. >> yeah. we don't like it but we're used to it. >> we handle 26-p

that's according to the federal railroad administration office of safety. in that same time period, there wewe 24-hundred kcrg-tv9's forrest saunders joins us from downtown cedar rapids. forrest, some local photographers caught people being downright reckless around trains? yeah. people breaking the basic rules. when the lights flash, the bells ring, and a train is coming you cannot cross intersececons like this one, whether you're a driver or a pedestrian. alex jordan and lance schaeffer really like trains.their hearts start thumping when these metal behemoths start chugging. "the adrenaline for one is really exciting, escially when you have the speed and the e rn at the same time.e.ince the two were little, they've spent hours outside with cameras shooting video of local trains for fun. and trust me, their archive of clips is extensive. "i have at least 1,,0. about 1,017 online."here's where it gets scary. alex and

on monday, the federal railroad administration says no changes they found the gate was working properly. the final report is due out this summer. >>> much of the country is dealing with the aftermath of dangerous weather. a cell phone camera caught this tornado touching down in alabama. officials say it left a path of destruction taking out several trees and power lines. homes were in its path, but so far only minor injuries have been reported. tornadoes hit south carolina and eastern mississippi. there are reports of extensive damage. the same storm system that brought the tornadoes in the south delivered blizzards across the middle part of the country. drivers were fighting whiteout conditions and snowy, slippery roads. portions of interstates were shut down in colorado, nebraska and kansas. those same states are buried under heavy snow. >>> it's 5:08. doctors in the united states are reporting the first known case of the zika virus being sexually transmitted. dallas health officials say someone had gotten sick with sexual partner then developed zika without a travel region. neither p

to the north carolina transportation museum for the annual inspection required by the federal railroad administration. the queen of steam will get an extensive check-up including boiler tests, but lindsay says she'll be ready for the spring exurcions. tickets for the 2016 excursions go on as you get ready to start your day, we're keeping an eye on the roads for you. we'll have the latest traffic alerts in your i-hometown traffic report. there's a special collection at the virginia museum of transportation. we'll introduce you to the man responsible for the display. good morning dashiell, considering the future of explore park, and the work that's now under way to develop a sustainable plan for property. i'll talk with the director of roanoke county parks, tourism coming up on wdbj7 mornin'. today with a few passing showers. high near 60. a tractor-trailer accident has shut down i-77 south in carroll county. that's near the marker 14. avoid the area. electrical work will have newton street blocked off in danville. you won't be able to drive there from 7 a-m to 5 p-m today through thursday. a detour wi

to the north carolina transportation museum for the annual inspection required by the federal railroad administration. the queen of steam will get an extensive check-up including boiler tests, but lindsay says she'll be ready for the spring exurcions. tickets for the 2016 excursions go on sale this month. you won't have to worry about any icy patches on the roads today, but there could still be other detours. we'll have everything you need to know, next in your i-hometown traffic report. good morning, i'm joe dashiell. what kind of recreational opportunities would you like to see at explore park? roanoke county wants to know, and we'll tell you to how opinion, coming up mostly cloudy today with a few passing showers. high near 60. there's a mile-long backup now on i-77 south in carroll county because of an accident. it involves a damaged bridge and several vehicles. all southbound lanes are closed near the route 58 exit in hillsville, which is at mile marker 14. southbound traffic is being diverted off at exit 14, and right back onto southbound i-77. there's no estimated time for the highway to re- o

the federal railroad administration said that the companies won't get it done in that they will mace that lead line. >>> women may have to register for the draft because of the decision to open combat jobs to them. >> you may remember these who women who graduated from the army school. now some are saying women should be required to register for the draft at age 18. not everybody is on board with the plane. the navy secretary and army secretary both say that it should be discussed further. >>> >> a conversation probably coming up. >>> we are going to see a better chance of rain and storms for tomorrow. today we will be on the warm side. 84 today. five-day forecast with the weekend always in view. then tomorrow again -- a chance of a pop up storm later. tomorrow much better chance of rain and storms. cooler weather slides in by friday. have a great morning. time 6:59.

us today that the train car windows are reinforced to meet the specifications of the federal railroad administration'segulations. at 30th street station today, riders said they consider the train safe and such incidents are not something that will keep them from riding the rails. >> you really can can't live your life worried about such things and the probability of things happening like that tend to be so small, i do feel very safe. >> that are things that are just out of everyone's control so hopefully people understand that and don't cause too much of a fuss. >> reporter: now, the passengers who were on the train last night told us the conductors on board explained to them that this does happen from time to time, that things are thrown at passing trains. acela 2222 stopped at the metro park station for about a half an hour after the incident. there was a quick inspection and it moved on to penn station where it arrived around 8 o'clock last night. again no, one was injured. live at 30th street station, i'm sarah bloomquist channel6 "action news. >> thank you sarah. >>> few at 5:00 a former philadel