Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-145 (2026)
Obedience to signal indicating approach of train or other on-track equipment - Penalty
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) Whenever any person driving a vehicle approaches a railroad grade crossing under any of the circumstances stated in this section, the driver of the vehicle shall stop within fifty feet (50') but not less than fifteen feet (15') from the nearest rail of the railroad, and shall not proceed until that driver can do so safely. These requirements shall apply when:
- (1) A clearly visible electric or mechanical signal device gives warning of the immediate approach of a railroad train or other on-track equipment, which shall mean any self-propelled machinery or vehicle traveling on a railroad track;
- (2) A crossing gate is lowered or when a human flagger gives or continues to give a signal of the approach or passage of a railroad train or other on-track equipment;
- (3) A railroad train or other on-track equipment approaching within approximately one thousand five hundred feet (1,500') of the highway crossing emits a signal audible from such distance and the railroad train or other on-track equipment, by reason of its speed or nearness to the crossing, is an immediate hazard; or
- (4) An approaching railroad train or other on-track equipment is plainly visible and is in hazardous proximity to the crossing.
- (b) No person shall drive any vehicle through, around or under any crossing gate or barrier at a railroad crossing while the gate or barrier is closed or is being opened or closed.
- (c) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
Acts 1955, ch. 329, § 44; T.C.A., § 59-845; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113; 2012 , ch. 588, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 1993–2007 · leading case: State v. Gilboy, 857 S.W.2d 884 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1993).
State v. Gilboy, 857 S.W.2d 884 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1993). “Failing to stop at a railroad grade crossing when a signal is warning of an oncoming train, under Tennessee Code Annotated Section 55-8-145, is a Class C misdemean- or, see Sentencing Reform Notes, Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-145 (1992 Supp.), punishable by thirty days and a fifty…”
Tennie Martin & Roya Mitchell, Co-Pers. Representatives of the Est. of Kathryn Martin, & Tennie Martin & Roy A. Mitchell v. NorFolk S. Ry. Co. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007). “Tenn. Code Ann. §55-8-145 states: (a) Whenever any person driving a vehicle approaches a railroad grade crossing under any of the circumstances stated in this section, the driver of such vehicle shall stop within fifty feet (50') but not less than fifteen feet (15') from the…”
Shanklin v. Norfolk S. (6th Cir. 2004). “As its chief suppo rt for this propo sition, N orfolk claims treasury of the county in which said provisions may have that Eddie violated Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-145 (a)(3)-(4), which requires been disregarded, and the other one half ( 1/2 ) to the moto rists to stop within fifty…”
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