Some people...

[Modelcar]

...Jkeaton: I do have a Lexus and....a pickup truck, but we're not all the same...I wouldn't think of going around a flashing signal and or gate at a RR crossing....!

[vsmith]

Your father had that "other" 6th sense...

"I see Dumb people....there everywhere!.."

[Anonymous]

Cris Helt--

You called that one right! My term for it is "natural selection at work". With kids in the car is so incredibly idiotic that I can't even come up with a word for it. I'd like to be the cop, or better yet the judge, on that one.

Now, as to people who drive a Lexus or a BMW, it does seem to me that an awful lot of them are of the mentality that does exactly that sort of thing....

--JD

[Anonymous]

In most situations, with idiots going in front of trains, this is a case of "thinning of the herd." With kids in the car, it's a whole different level of stupidity. [V][:(]

[Anonymous]

Actually I saw in Trains that Norfolk Southern and I think perhaps BNSF are installing cameras on some of their locos just for that reason. If there ever is an accident or close call, you can just check the tape. Pretty soon we'll have "World's Wildest Train Videos!" on Fox...

[Anonymous]

i wonder if there was a way to equip the engines, or engineers with a digital camera to take a picture of the idiots who pass in from of them. I know it wouldn't be easy to take the picture, but maybe if there was a way to do so, then send it to the cops in that town, you guys might start seing a lessoning of stupidity if they new that there would be some consequenses. I can't imagine what it must be like to take out someone like that, knowing that you probably just killed them. It was hard enough for me when I was a kid when we hit a car on the Coast Starlight coming into Oakland 15 years ago.

Brad

[espeefoamer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vandenbm

QUOTE: Originally posted by jamison1

Been there, done that (I mean to say your fathers position). Stupid people are the reason I get a paycheck.

Indeed...I saw a car yesterday drive right into a gate that was down. Not around the gate, but it smacked him right in the windshield! Lights flashing, bells dinging, horn blasting on the approaching BNSF manifest and this guy smashed right into the gate! Wi***here was an officer around to see that.

Brings a whole new meaning to the word "idiot"![:(!].

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jamison1

Been there, done that (I mean to say your fathers position). Stupid people are the reason I get a paycheck.

Indeed...I saw a car yesterday drive right into a gate that was down. Not around the gate, but it smacked him right in the windshield! Lights flashing, bells dinging, horn blasting on the approaching BNSF manifest and this guy smashed right into the gate! Wi***here was an officer around to see that.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SP9033

You know Mikeyguy, stuff happens. Somehow on a national railfan board this really is a SO WHAT.

I am going to exercise a little here and jump to a conclusion that you are referring to this being an on-going occurrence rather than making a disparaging remark to a good forum member.

I am sure that is the case.

Mookie

[Anonymous]

You know Mikeyguy, stuff happens. Somehow on a national railfan board this really is a SO WHAT.

[cpbloom]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mikeygaw


the driver of the car had the guts to actually try too blame the railroad for having the crossing there.

LOL! [:o)] Talk about saying something that is beside the point!

"I wouldn't have went around........if the crossing wasn't there in the first place." [xx(]

[bbrant]

QUOTE:

stupid why blame railroads

Simple. Personal responsiblity is quickly becoming a thing of the past and this guy is just keeping up with the times. Since he was missed by inches it's obvious the evil railroad company was out to get him. Otherwise the inconsiderate crew would've stopped and waited for him to safely drive across the tracks. After all, trains can stop just as fast as a car, right?

Brian

[Mikeygaw]

ok something related to me later about the moron going around the train... one of the crewman had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the car

[rrnut282]

I hope the officer who cited the alledged perpetrator in the first post was on the other side of the tracks and didn't follow them across the road crossing in front of the local. Unfortunately, I witnessed this once. I was all set to cheer him on, when it hit me, he did the same thing he's going to ticket the fool for.

[jkeaton]

BMW or Lexus?? I don't drive either - but from personal experience it's people driving pick-up trucks who are most likely to drive around gates or through flashing lights. I too have been sitting at a crossing gate, lights flashing, gate down, when a bozo in a pick-up truck didn't even slow down, but blasted past me and through the crossing. Now, this crossing is a duesy - blind (thanks to buildings and a rock cut) in both directions, from the point of view of the driver at the crossing, and on a CN mainline with 70 mph container train service. The idiot in the pick-up truck missed the train by mere feet - and nearly collided with traffic coming the other way on the other side of the crossing!

Jim

[Anonymous]

Going around crossing gates is a common thing for young cops out to save the world. But it is a dangerous habit. I spent 20yrs on the job and never felt the need to go around gates. It also sends the wrong message to the public. In the Detroit area where I worked two young troopers were hit and killed by a train in the late 80's. Everyone thought they were so courageous to risk and kill themselves over a report of a fistfight at a bar. I kept quiet but knew it wasn't courage..it was stupidity that killed them.

[Mikeygaw]

they seem to be out in force... saw two teens walking along an active set of tracks (couldnt stop to yell at them unfortunatley) , and along the way home today, someone had gotten stuck between a truck and another car. Couldn't see much damage, but still a pain, with a street blocked by the accident and the police/fire department

[miniwyo]

I think it would be acceptable for a police officer to do this if there had been an important call that needed responding to, i.e. somone's life is in danger making it neccisacary to risk his own life to save another's.

If it was just him being impatient, that is totally unacceptable.

[dldance]

So what would you do in this situation:

My wife and several of our children were stopped at a grade crossing with flashing lights - no gates. A train was approaching. All of a sudden, a police car pulled into the opposing lane from behind my wife and crossed the track just in front of the engine!

This really happened.

dd

[Anonymous]

Reminds me of a saying I heard some time ago:

"The biological fact of parenthood does not
automatically qualify one to raise a child."

I am reminded of it far too often! [:(]

[UPTRAIN]

Those are the fricken morons who don't benefit society at all!

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by n_stephenson

The whole "I'm driving the kids to school" tells me everything I need to know. Two words to solve that problem..... SCHOOL BUS

No Way! My kids are too special to ride a school bus. That's why I drive them to school! Never mind I'm trying to kill them by driving around RR gates...[:p]

[Anonymous]

The whole "I'm driving the kids to school" tells me everything I need to know. Two words to solve that problem..... SCHOOL BUS

[mudchicken]

Gratefully a police officer saw the incident. Most of the time the police are not around to see. Traffic fines and citations, in the end, are to correct behavior and not to punish. This type of thing screams for more than a citation, the adult's driving priviledges should be revoked and he/she ought to start over, beginning with an apology to the kids in the car.

[miniwyo]

OK I saw somthing yesterday on this topic that I thought was worthy of posting.

I was over at a car delarship that is next to the tracks helping my girlfriend look for a new truck, as I notice a local train coming down the rails just about to cross a nearby road, this truck that is owned by a VERY large oilfield service company goes flying around the gates just as the locomotive enters the crossing and is only missed by a couple feet. If i could have caught the vehicle number i would have called the company and told them what happened. Myabe prevent somthing from happening in the future

[oskar]

stupid why blame railroads




kevin

[railman]

Dumb dumb dumb. Down in Minneapolis, I was were caught at a crossing, some people drove around it, I sat there shaking my head. When does it sink in, trains are for real, they will probably kill you if you get hit? Wake up people!

[CSXrules4eva]

ok. ................. HOW STUPID CAN PEOPLE GET? I worry for some people's sanity in certain cases. I mean it's a conspiricy, when it comes to grade xings some people just don't have the common sence. Those kind of people shouldn't be driving. This dum a*$ also had three kids' lives he put in jepordy. Though, a train is moving slow dosesn't mean that the train isn't going to do harm to ya. A slow moving train represents a tremendous amount of power, it's a big machine it'll keep on going until a person stops it.

[Anonymous]

I was given an excellent videotape by some ISP Troopers I met at a convention. It deals with a grade crossing enforcement program given by ISP in cooperation with CSX. On part of the tape several violators ($250 ticket and 6 points) are asked why they ran around the gates. Some of the responses:

1. "I have ice cream in the car and I don't want it to melt"

2. "I'm late for a funeral" (my personal favorite) (possibly his own?)

3. "I'm taking my kids to school."

LC