Air carrier captain reports abrupt stop after hold bar lights change from yellow to red without warn...

Narrative:

We had landed on 16R in sea during low visibility (RVR 1000 variable 1200). After landing we were cleared to cross 16C and 16L on taxiway north. We were proceeding slowly due to low visibility and were also cross-checking our clearance and verifying we were on the correct taxiway and crossing the runways as our clearance stated. As we approached 16L on november; the lights were yellow and the taxiway lead lights were green. About 10' from the hold short line; the lights suddenly turned red without any call/warning from ATC. We performed an emergency stop and then asked ATC about the red lights. ATC apologized and re-sequenced the lights to allow us to cross. Upon reaching the gate; we were informed by the flight attendants that a little boy (lap child) had hit his head on the seat in front of him (his parents had allowed him to stand up before we reached the gate) during our abrupt stop for the red stop lights at 16L. Not really sure why this happened as we heard no ATC calls about traffic on 16L and we were cleared to cross both 16C and 16L.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reports abrupt stop after hold bar lights change from yellow to red without warning or apparent reason in low visibility conditions. After arriving at the gate the Captain is informed that a small child was injured by the stop.

Narrative: We had landed on 16R in SEA during low visibility (RVR 1000 variable 1200). After landing we were cleared to cross 16C AND 16L on taxiway N. We were proceeding slowly due to low visibility and were also cross-checking our clearance and verifying we were on the correct taxiway and crossing the runways as our clearance stated. As we approached 16L on November; the lights were yellow and the taxiway lead lights were green. About 10' from the hold short line; the lights suddenly turned red without any call/warning from ATC. We performed an emergency stop and then asked ATC about the red lights. ATC apologized and re-sequenced the lights to allow us to cross. Upon reaching the gate; we were informed by the flight attendants that a little boy (lap child) had hit his head on the seat in front of him (his parents had allowed him to stand up before we reached the gate) during our abrupt stop for the red stop lights at 16L. Not really sure why this happened as we heard no ATC calls about traffic on 16L and we were cleared to cross both 16C and 16L.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	870050
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SEA.Airport
State Reference	WA
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Air carrier captain reports abrupt stop after hold bar lights change from yellow to red without warning or apparent reason in low visibility conditions. After arriving at the gate the captain is informed that a small child was injured by the stop.