Another Train vs. Car, in Florida this time

[MisterBeasley]

No doubt about the outcome once again.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/16/train.collision.ap/index.html

"The car drove around the crossing gate, witnesses said."

"It was not immediately known how fast the train was going or what caused the accident."

Uh, let's see.  The reporter isn't clear on what caused the accident?  International terrorism, maybe?  Or high cholesterol?  Maybe over-fishing in the Grande Bank of Newfoundland?  C'mon, when a car drives around a crossing gate and does a physics experiment with a moving train, there's not much doubt about "what caused the accident."

[C&O Fan]

Ain't no pill for Stupid !

 

[loathar]

   C'mon, when a car drives around a crossing gate and does a physics experiment with a moving train, there's not much doubt about "what caused the accident."

Ya got that right! GLOBAL WARMING!!! (it must have fried the drivers brain)

[SOU Fan]

When are people going to learn that a train will win every single solitar time. no exceptions!

 

[Mark R.]

When I opened up the link, I did a double take because the angle of the pic made it look for all the world just like an H.O. scene !!!

Mark.

[RicHamilton]

Maybe over-fishing in the Grande Bank of Newfoundland? 

Grand Banks...sorry, couldn't help myself

[eeyore9900]

It's stupid enough in a truck or car, but how about the ultimate-a motorcycle?

Something I witnessed 1st hand some years ago-I was sitting at a CR crossing near here about 4 cars back from the gates. A train was approaching at about 30 MPH I'd guess-I then watched a Harley rider (with his lady friend on the back no less) proceed to go around the gates from the  other side of the crossing when the lead engine was less then 50-60 feet from the crossing-& then if that wasn't bad enough, he decided to play a bit of chicken & stopped!!!! He actually waited until the pilot of the engine was less than 10 ft or so away before he gunned it across.

When I was able to resume breathing, I wanted to stop him as he passed me so I could give him his "sign!" 

[tomikawaTT]

IMHO, a vehicle being hit by a train AFTER THE DRIVER GOES AROUND A LOWERED GATE is not an accident.

The Coroner should return a directed verdict of suicide for the driver, and vehicular manslaughter (against the driver) for any other fatalities.

Maybe I'm hard-line on this, but the Earth doesn't have enough resources to waste them on the terminally stupid.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Anonymous]

anyone got a video of it actually happening?

[MisterBeasley]

Maybe over-fishing in the Grande Bank of Newfoundland? 

Grand Banks...sorry, couldn't help myself

I stand corrected.

[quote user="C&O Fan"]

Ain't no pill for Stupid !

 

 And Stupid.  (But there really is something wrong with the "quote" stuff in this forum software.)

[cwclark]

I guess the driver never saw the film in defensive driving class which states as plain as day: A train hitting a car is the same as a car running over an aluminum coke can.  Some people never learn. Chalk up another one for the elimination of another "stupid" chromosome in the human gene pool. 

[tomikawaTT]

Not so instant replay.  Within the last few days:

Same general area of Florida as the first incident:

• Speeding car (one young male, three young females) zipped around one stopped car and lowered gates, was punted several hundred feet by Amtrak passenger train traveling at track speed.  Four fatalities, no significant damage to or injuries aboard train.
• Pickup truck and Amtrak (again!) disagreed on right of way at signaled, gated grade crossing.  Driver dead on scene, train had several cars derailed, onboard injuries?

What's the deal here?  Is Florida suddenly suffering a wave of utter idiocy, or do we have two cases of copycat suicide?  I wonder how many OTHER car-train arguments have taken place there which didn't make the national news because no passenger trains were involved.

My deepest sympathy to:

• The three innocent victims of the multi-fatality incident, their families and friends.
• The crews of the trains involved.
• The emergency responders who had to bag the bodies.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[SteamFreak]

This isn't over. Just wait until the surviving family gets the bright idea to sue the railroad for not making it completely impossible to drive around the gates, no matter how determined an idiot individual might be. Naturally, they'll find a "compassionate" judge who won't throw the case out on its ear, the way any normal human being would.

I think the locomotive crew should sue the idiot's family for the post-traumatic stress they're going to suffer as a result of his stunt.

[ProtoWeathering]

The front page of the Orlando Sentinel has video and pictures with the stories of BOTH Amtrack vs idiot incidents.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com 

[paul_r]

Both my son and my sister are conductors for Amtrak, and both have been involved in several rail crossing accidents.  My sister has told of looking for body parts in hidden places under the locomotives, and decided not to complete her engineer training because she didn't want to be at the throttle when the inevitable fatalities happened.  My son has been involved in three of these accidents.  The first was with a chlorine truck crossing several tracks at a private crossing.  The engineer blew the horn for as long as she could as soon as she saw the truck, but the idiot driver kept going across.  His truck was knocked for a loop, but the driver survived.  My son was injured in this one, for which I bear a great resentment against the idiot truck driver.    The second one involved a tractor trailer.  The driver was STOPPED at the crossing, and asked a passing pedestrian to raise the crossing gate.  The pedestrian DID raise the arm for him!  The tractor made it across, but his half loaded trailer didn't, and thousands of cans of tomato sauce were scattered everywhere.  The the third was a bicyclist, who weaved around the lowered crossing gate.  The bicyclist didn't survive...

[Anonymous]

paul_r:

i am sure that all here will agree - the jokes and funny comments [which in turn are reality] are / must immediately be put aside when you read something like this.

I would [without any authority on the subject] kindly suggest that an engineer take it as "part of the job, that one day just might happen". [all politeness, apathy and empathy implied here to all loco engineers and conductors]

The trains crew [especially the driver] cannot be held in any way responsible for any person or object who decides to cross the tracks when the gates are down and the sirens and lights are going.

As previously stated : a train hitting a car, truck, cyclist or pedestrian is just like a coke can being crushed by either of the just mentioned.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

When will they learn! The train ALWAYS has the right of way, I don't care if it's only creeping along! In some places it's automatic jail time for going around the gates.

[MisterBeasley]

One evening, I was looking out my window that overlooked the B&M tracks in Concord, MA.  I heard the bells and saw the gates go down, and then I saw a car smash right through the gate, taking it out completely.  The car kept on going.  All I could do was phone the police, but unfortunately I didn't get a plate number.

[tangerine-jack]

George Bush.  Isn't he personaly responsible for absolutely everthing wrong in the entire world?  It's clear that if he wasn't so misguided the poor innocent driver wouldn't have HAD to go around the flashing crossing gate and there would be peace in Africa.

[Anonymous]

I would hate to be the engineer that has to watch as a car gets smushed beneath him!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

I was riding in a loco cab one time when the train hit a small truck. Sunny day. Clear view. Whistle sounding. Flashers flashing (no gate at that crossing.) Driver never looked. Driver and passenger severly injured. Later sued railroad. Settled out of court.

Tnagerine....  this was before GWB was Prez, but balme him anyhow.

[mls1621]

Have any of you seen the book on the Darwin Awards?

It's was published as a joke (my opinion), but it's very relevant when we see something like this happening over and over.

Maybe Driver's license renewal should be allowed only after viewing the Operation Life Saver videos.

[MisterBeasley]

This story:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/17/ap3924070.html

indicates that another driver tried to beat a train across the tracks yesterday in Florida.  Same rail line, and, unfortunately for the truck driver, the same result.  This time, the train partially derailed, but there were no injuries on the train.

[vsmith]

Well, it is Florida after all....

Sorry, I know there are lots and lots of fine folk in the orange juice state, but it also has one of the largest concentrations of completely brainless ing idiot morons in the western hemisphere! Its like they all filter down to the bottom of the map, and Florida is the drain... where some people think 'Operation Lifesaver' has to with breathmints.

Now if they could only convince all those knucleheads there to go swimming in the Bermuda Triangle ....

[riogrande5761]

I guess the driver never saw the film in defensive driving class which states as plain as day: A train hitting a car is the same as a car running over an aluminum coke can.  Some people never learn. Chalk up another one for the elimination of another "stupid" chromosome in the human gene pool. 

I suppose this would be "natural selection" and thinning of the gene pool for stupid people.  Unfortunately for the entineers there is a large supply of them still left out there.  They have their work cut out for them!  (ok, all kidding aside)

What's the deal here?  Is Florida suddenly suffering a wave of utter idiocy, or do we have two cases of copycat suicide?

No, I'm sure its happening or almost happening everywhere.  My estranged wife was riding Amtrak from Indianapolis to Chicago in and her train hit a car full of teenagers at a rural crossing.  The train sat there for 2 hours while the police and officials did there thing, then it proceeded on.  I believe all 3 or 4 teens were killed in the accident, allegedly playing chicken with the train on the rural crossing.  I saw a TV special years ago where a camera was set up on a grade crossing north of Chicago where commuter trains typically ran.  The camera only turned on when a train was approaching.  Over and over and over, the video showed cars "just" beating the train across the tracks in the lick of time.  So for every "hit" there are countless near misses.  This was a crossing apparently where a school bus was hit by a train so it was video taped as part of a study or something.

It never fails to amaze me when these things go to court and families try to sue the RR for something that was so obviously a fatal error in judgement of the driver of the car or truck.  I'd say this whole issue is a strong case against the whole notion of the evolution of man kind.  Its proof that we are de-evolving if anything.

[ProtoWeathering]

Well, it is Florida after all....

Sorry, I know there are lots and lots of fine folk in the orange juice state, but it also has one of the largest concentrations of completely brainless ing idiot morons in the western hemisphere! Its like they all filter down to the bottom of the map, and Florida is the drain... where some people think 'Operation Lifesaver' has to with breathmints.

Now if they could only convince all those knucleheads there to go swimming in the Bermuda Triangle ....

 

Golly, Mr. Smith I think you forgot to check your facts. These are from Operation Lifesaver and the FRA.

Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Collisions
Top 15 States

(Based on Preliminary 2006 Federal Railroad Administration Statistics)

According to FRA statistics, 2,897 highway-rail grade crossing collisions occurred in 2006. A total of 65% of all Year 2006 highway-rail grade crossing collisions occurred in these states…

1.	Texas	336
2.	Illinois	174
3.	California	166
4.	Louisiana	143
5.	Indiana	136
6.	Georgia	130
7.	Alabama	124
8.	Ohio	120
9.	Florida	116
10.	Mississippi	82
11.	Arkansas	80
12.	Michigan	79
13.	North Carolina	75
14.	Oklahoma	70
15.	Tennessee	68

 

Highway-Rail Incidents, Casualties, and Trespass Casualties by State, 2006*

Source: Federal Railroad Administration

• Reply

State	Xing Collisions	Xing Fatalities	Xing Injuries	Trespass Fatalities	Trespass Injuries
TOTALS	2,897	362	999	530	466
Texas	336	42	147	51	69
Illinois	174	25	70	27	27
California	166	36	37	91	59
Louisiana	143	8	72	14	15
Indiana	136

MisterBeasley Member since December 2004 From: Bedford, MA, USA 21,404 posts

Posted by MisterBeasley on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:43 AM Seems to me I read about a study of "last words" said (or screamed) by the drivers of cars who were about to suffer a fatal accident.  In 49 states, it was a variation of "Oh my God!"  In Texas, it was most likely to be "Hold my beer and watch this!"   It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.  Reply

Anonymous Member since April 2003 305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:50 AM vsmith: You should have known that someone in Florida would disagree. It was only a matter of time. I'm glad MA is near the bottom of the list. You know, your state had 143 colisions in 2006, while Florida had just 116! Look at it, it's #4, while Florida is #9! (No offence meant by all this, just so you know.) Reply Edit

ProtoWeathering Member since March 2011 544 posts

Posted by ProtoWeathering on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:58 AM vsmith: You should have known that someone in Florida would disagree. It was only a matter of time. I'm glad MA is near the bottom of the list. You know, your state had 143 colisions in 2006, while Florida had just 116! Look at it, it's #4, while Florida is #9! (No offence meant by all this, just so you know.) Yep, it proves that there are idiots everywhere, but just one in Alaska...  Reply

Anonymous Member since April 2003 305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:00 PM Yeah, and 0 in RI. Reply Edit

[MisterBeasley]

Seems to me I read about a study of "last words" said (or screamed) by the drivers of cars who were about to suffer a fatal accident.  In 49 states, it was a variation of "Oh my God!"  In Texas, it was most likely to be "Hold my beer and watch this!"

 

[Anonymous]

vsmith: You should have known that someone in Florida would disagree. It was only a matter of time. I'm glad MA is near the bottom of the list. You know, your state had 143 colisions in 2006, while Florida had just 116! Look at it, it's #4, while Florida is #9!

(No offence meant by all this, just so you know.)

[ProtoWeathering]

vsmith: You should have known that someone in Florida would disagree. It was only a matter of time. I'm glad MA is near the bottom of the list. You know, your state had 143 colisions in 2006, while Florida had just 116! Look at it, it's #4, while Florida is #9!

(No offence meant by all this, just so you know.)

Yep, it proves that there are idiots everywhere, but just one in Alaska... 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, and 0 in RI.