Posted by FolkstonGuy on January 21, 2009
I hate it when people do that! They're actually being really selfish when they take their chances and try to beat the train. They don't think about their grieving family or the engineer or anybody who cares after he's been crushed. Take the example of Amtrak 91 in Plant City, Florida. Hit a car one day (killed everyone) and then THE VERY NEXT DAY hit another car just two crossings down and killed everyone again. You wouldn't believe how many idiots there are out there! |
Posted by kyleyunker on January 21, 2009
Those engines sounded good! |
Posted by Rod Williams on January 22, 2009
No doubt about it, the driver ran the lights but spare me the drama, The train didn't get there for another 14 seconds. Oh, and I am an engineer. |
Posted by jonbaxter on January 22, 2009
Those engines do sound good! The truck had plenty of time, though it would seem to me that the flashers may have gone off a bit sooner that needed... |
Posted by Matt Landry on January 22, 2009
Yes, the truck had plenty of time. However, there was alot of ice near there. I drove across the crossing earlier in the day, and I almost got stuck, as my tires began to spin for about 6 or 7 seconds, and I have winter tires. The train was also going much slower than it normally does through there, which is why it probably seemed like the flashers went earlier than normal. |
Posted by Dan The Train Man on January 22, 2009
I can't say this idiot was in any danger but he should have stopped for the train. Those flashing red lights aren't there for show. Anyone going through them risks not only his own life but also the lives of everyone around him, including the train crew. It's too bad they don't install cameras at rail crossings and record the license plates of these jerks. If everyone who tries to beat a train, if they aren't killed in the process, would get hit with a $500 fine, you better believe there would be less and less of this unacceptable behavior. The trouble is, no city or county has the money for this. Maybe some of the contents of one of those tanker cars got into this guy's head! I've even seen people go around crossing gates. This is not only stupid, it's foolhardy! |
Posted by The Wolf on January 22, 2009
If memory serves me correctly.I remember talking to an engineer on the Northlander from Toronto to North Bay back in the late 80's and he told me that the minimum safety margin from activation of the lights to when the lead locomotive is at the roadbed is 19 seconds. I do agree completely that the lights are active and the van driver did error.I am not taking away the importance of what all railways do with Lifesaver.But this is at most a message that is not always getting through.
Humans will be as dumb as a bag of hammers at the best or worst of times.Cleaning up the mess and telling families that they have just lost a mom or dad,son or daughter because they did not heed the warning lights at a railway crossing.This as I have said, is just proof that we are still a long way away of getting the message through.
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Posted by Mitch Solacz on January 22, 2009
If the driver has a commercial drivers license, the act of crossing a reilroad crossing when the lights are activated is cause for immediate license suspension. Why take chances with your livelyhood not to mention your life? |
Posted by Rod Williams on January 22, 2009
I live in Victoria ( Australia ) and cameras are now being installed at crossings. In the last few years we have lost three enginemen, about a dozen passengers, one steam locomotive, three passenger cars, dozens of freight cars, and a DMU rail car in truck vs trains at level crossings. Penalties for heavy trucks now run to several thousand dollars and automatic loss of licence. Many of our crossings are now fitted with devices to measure the train speed and operate the warning systems to provide a uniform time regardless of train speed. |
Posted by Joesph Whitsett on January 22, 2009
The train was not even close! |
Posted by BNSFFan4Life on January 22, 2009
Where is the idiot driver, because I sure as heck didn't see one. The driver had plenty of time to cross. |
Posted by Bryan Eberly on January 22, 2009
Calm down. Nothing annoys me more than when someone posts a comment consisting of, "Oh my... Holy crap, he could have been killed!!!!" There are way too many videos on here with people spouting off about vehicles that cross the tracks ten or more seconds before the train arrives. The train was not that close when the driver crossed. I am a conductor and I see this happen all the time. Yes the truck probably should have been patient and waited, but he didn't, and there was no real immediate threat of danger. It is okay to be concerned when a train misses a car by two seconds, but people need to stop making drama where none exists. |
Posted by Dan The Train Man on January 23, 2009
The real question is: Where do we draw the line netween "acceptable" crossings and dangerous ones? We had a very tragic incident in Hollywood, Florida where an Amtrak train slammed into a gas tanker truck. The accident killed about eight or nine people and injured dozens of others, mostly from burns from the gas igniting. The incident was thoroughly investigated by the NTSB. It was so bad, they had to close that crossing for weeks. The investigation revealed the truck driver had ample time to stop but, instead, got trapped on the tracks. The flames were so intense that it took firefighters 12 hours to put the fire out. It was one of the worst incidents in U.S. rail history. Some of you may still remember it. We should take lessons from the Austrailians and install cameras at major crossings. A train's speed is very deceptive. We see and hear it coming but we really don't realize how fast it is going. |
Posted by Matt Landry on January 23, 2009
So, if you're stopped at a red light at an intersection, and it's 14 seconds before the next driver gets to the intersection, that makes it ok to run the red light? Whatever, maybe I should change the title...maybe this guy's a hero, since obviously, he's not the only one here that would do this. |
Posted by Bryan Eberly on January 23, 2009
My last comment on this. Running the lights at a crossing has become as common as coasting through a stop sign. I find it funny that most railroaders (and I am one) have an "Oh well, nothing you can do" attitude while railfans seem to be the ones with the "Ahhhhhh" reaction. I don't hate hate railfans as I have railfanned before and enjoy trains, but you need to at least face todays reality. There nothing anyone can actively do to stop the millions of people who run crossings. Railroaders have accepted the fact that there are going to be similar situations multiple times every trip. It doesn't even bother me that someone drives across ten seconds in front of me. So, please stop the "Idiot driver!!! Almost ruined the life of many people!!" comments if there wasn't a near miss. |
Posted by on January 24, 2009
I tend to agree with those, including and engineer and a conductor, that admonish railfans not to get all wide-eyed and sanctimonious about someone crossing when the train is 10 or 15 seconds away. Admittedly everyone should stop for the flashing lights, but this guy probably goes over that crossing several times each week or day and knew just how much time he had. A big difference from the idiot that crosses in front of a fast moving train that is less than a couple of hundred feet away. When I was a kid there was an NYC crossing near my school in Chateauguay, Quebec on the old NYC Adirondack (Utica - Montreal) sub. One day when we were in school a local guy driving a panel truck was creamed by a pair of Alco RS-3s and dumped down the side of a hill. He survived (the truck didn't), but shortly after he was released from hospital I actually saw him race another train with just seconds to spare at the very same crossing. Now that was an idiot. |
Posted by christophersmuller.com on January 25, 2009
Where's the idiot? I see someone that broke the law, but there was a full 20 seconds before the train arrived at the crossing... |
Posted by Adam Parsons on January 26, 2009
Anyone who goes through a railway crossing with the lights flashing is classified as an idiot the way I see it. |
Posted by CHAMPEAUX on January 28, 2009
About the idiots who cross railroads although horn blowing and crossing signals flashing red, we should call this "natural selection"...... |
Posted by AndrewD on February 18, 2009
Why don't the railroads just put up conventional road traffic signals just like the ones at firehouses? I have a feeling that people just don't take "flashing" red lights seriously. I've stopped at a crossing like this and had people behind me furiously blow their horn and then suddenly break around me to get through. I think that the world isn't spinning fast enough for some people! |
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