A few years ago, I saw a presentation about RR crossing incidents. The speaker presented statistics that showed 95%+ being the fault of the motorist or pedestrian (I don't recall any bike incidents). A good percentage were intentional suicides.

Some communities have pressured the RRs to not blow their signals in the town (it disturbs the residents) and apparently the RRs will comply but only if the crossings are set up with the aforementioned double gates and a few other safety measures. Some politicians, though, have proposed exemptions for crossings that have low record of incidents (despite that may be low because of the whistles).

So the populist thought seems to be that trains shouldn't be allowed to disturb sleep, but communities should also not be punished by having to pay the huge cost of upgrading to more secure crossings.