I've lived in New Orleans and Chicago. Both cities have traffic cameras. Red lights, speeding, etc... In NOLA, there is no breaks - 1mph over the speed in school areas and parks, you get a hefty ticket.
Why don't we do this on railroad crossings?
A RED LIGHT IS A RED LIGHT. You gotta stop. No driver judgment has ever been written into the laws. You can't run red lights on any street, ever, no way, no how. It is the hardest rule of the road. There is absolutely no interpretation in red lights. Having an automated enforcement at railroad tracks would change the culture and perspective. Drivers would reflexively think "I can't go around those gates and I can't stop there" just like they think "I can't blow a red light I might hit a car or person".
Quad gates are a solution that incrementally improves on the 2-gates method, but it doesn't solve the problem of Idiots. They'll find a way around those quad gates, just like motorists find their way onto the Northeast corridor through station parking lots and just like a lady found herself 100 yards down the UP main in her Toyota last year, so my Sunset had to sit for a few hours just outside the station. What kind of financial damage does this do to both Amtrak and Freights? To tie up a main for 4-8 hours while an accident is investigated? $100k/each? $500k/each? I bet it's enormous.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.