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Gates do not prevent stupidity UPDATE: VIDEO

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[quote user="TimChgo9"][quote user="mersenne6"]    I showed the clip to a doctor friend who specializes in affairs of the mind and the immediate reaction to the video was suicide. She said the fact of other people in a vehicle would not necessarily act as a deterrent.  While we will obviously never know the drivers thoughts it is worth noting that stupidity, as an explanation, is not the only option.  Regardless, I agree with MP173, the survivors are going to need a lot of help.[/quote]I have heard the same explanation from people I know in the medical field.  But, throwing that around is touchy ground at best.  Stupidity ranks high in my book as for the reason...however, we will never know the real reason, because we weren't there, and also the fact that this lady didn't survive.  I think the fact that she was distracted by the train she was trying to beat is a very good possibility.  She probably became "fixated" on the train she was racing, and wasn't paying attention to the rest of her surroudings. [/quote]I think you are right.It is true that we cannot determine the motive of this crash with complete certainty.  Only the driver would have the potential ability to honestly and accurately say what motivated her, and we will never hear her explanation.  However, in the case of this crash, we do have an unusually large amount of evidence pointing to the motive of the driver.  There would be even more evidence if her intended destination were known, and if that destination defined a specific, optimum route.  This might settle this question:  If it were not for the train, would she have driven through the parking lot?  Or would she have crossed the tracks at a crossing nearer to the point where she began the drive through the parking lot?The video suggests that she was speeding through the parking lot, pulling ahead of the parallel train.  When she made the right turn, she first swung wide to the left, as someone would do when they did not want to slow down for the turn.  Indeed, it looked as though she made that entire turn maneuver at rate of speed that would correspond to being motivated to not lose a race.  When she approached the crossing the lights were flashing, and the train she was shadowing was far too close to the crossing to safely cross; yet she clearly attempted to cross without even slowing down.  The fact that she did not slow down suggests that she made a calculation that, even though the train was quickly closing in on the crossing, she could beat it.  The position of the train and her vehicle indicates that her calculation was correct.  She would have been over the crossing and perhaps 100 feet beyond it by the time the train got to it.But this kind of daring calculation to race and beat the train requires that you pay riveting attention to the train so you can constantly assess your chances right up to the point of no return.  Clearly she won the race.  If she was instead destined to lose the race, I think she would have recognized that fact, and given up, stopping before reaching the point of no return.But what she left out of her calculation was the fact of a double track and the need to look out for a second train.  If, when approaching a crossing, one were not completely distracted by a life or death race with a train, a train coming from either direction would very likely attract one's attention, even if there were no flashing red lights.  But in this case, the flashing lights were of no use to warn of the second train if the driver attributed their warning entirely to the first train.The charge of stupidity is always thrown out, but I think it rarely applies.  Risk taking born of impatience-- or-- distraction are the two most common causes.  Usually it is one or the other, but this case was ironic in that both causes worked together.  The risk taking was its own distraction.
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