The New York Court of Appeals in Clementoni v. Consolidated Rail Co. affirmed the decision of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department regarding the defendant private landowners duty of care regarding railroad tracks that passed over their property.  As stated in a prior post,  an automobile driver brought an
action against a railroad, the estate of deceased owners of private
road, and owners of property abutting railroad tracks and a private
road, based on injuries he sustained when his vehicle collided with a
train.  The motorist claimed that the owners of the private road owed
him a duty to warn or protect him from the dangers of the railroad
crossing.  Notably, the motorist stated his deposition that he had
passed over the railroad crossing on that day three times before.  The
Majority of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department
dismissed the claim against the property owners, holding that they did
not owe the motorist a duty to erect a gate and, in any event, the lack
of protections were not the proximate cause of the accident.

The Court of Appeals agreed,  stating:

Plaintiff assumed that the tracks were actively used by Conrail’s trains.
He testified that the stopped and looked in both directions for oncoming
trains and proceeded cautiously each time he approached the tracks, which he
uneventfully drove across three times on September 27, 1994
before the accident.   As for the landowners, a landowner is
generally not liable for the existence of uncut vegetation
obstructing the view of motorists at an intersection