Train Time is Anytime!!

[Ponder]

I can see we're universally on the same side here so I'll just add that railway trespass and/or misuse carries a death penalty. No judge, no jury, no appeal.

[Chromatix]

Here's a more nuanced discussion of the issues - namely an accident report released today.

Immediate cause: lorry driver drove his oversized vehicle onto the crossing without first contacting the signalman as signs instructed. If he had done so, the signalman would have told him to wait for a sufficient gap between trains, and held the line blocked until the vehicle was clear.

Other factors: the crossing was badly designed, making it hard for a large vehicle to clear the crossing if it activated while crossing; and the design of the train's cab proved to be inadequate to protect the driver from such a collision (though the driver saved himself by evacuating the cab before collision).

[Shalom]

There was an accident like that a couple years ago in my neck of the woods. Not only did the car play beat the train but it also played beat the other cars that were stopped for the crossing gate. When the reports first came out, the first thing on the mind of the news folks was to blame the crossing gates, until
Amtrak came out with the video that basically said, "Uh no...". And then a survelliance video from one of the local businesses surfaced that showed the car going around the other cars.

Amtrak video here: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...6&postcount=15

Surveillance video here: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...0&postcount=18

[Aria]

If the former, I'm surprised the bus driver acted as he did - would have been MUCH faster to clear the tracks by pushing the stalled car using the bus than it would be to get people off - and there would be far less damage involved (minor front end damage to bus, moderate rear end damage to car, none to train, vs. totalled bus, damaged front end of train, and car that caused the problem in the first place undamaged).

He might have been afraid he wouldn't be able to make it in time. I know that some of the buses I take around here barely have enough horsepower to haul our carcasses up a hill...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If you know where to find it, there's a video out there of a woman getting creamed by a fast-moving commuter train.

She actually gets thrown into the person with the video camera. You can hear the splat of impact.

If you ask me, that video ought to be shown, uncut, on TV as a public service announcement.

[Aria]

She actually gets thrown into the person with the video camera. You can hear the splat of impact

That sounds both traumatizing and painful for the person with the video camera.