Dumb Ways To Die

[wolfie]

You're really supposed to stay off the crossing unless your exit is clear enough to drive completely into. This ensures that if the crossing closes, it is already clear. If you stall your engine, try using the starter motor (and first or reverse gear) to drive it just far enough to be clear - if that doesn't work, get out and push.

Slight problem with using the starter: virtually all recent (early '90s and later) manual transmissions have a clutch interlock for safety reasons (engine won't crank unless clutch pedal is depressed), and automatics have a shift interlock (won't crank unless in park or neutral), so the starter won't move the vehicle.

Some years back, my previous carrier picked up near Barrie, and the way out of this customer's site used a "demand light" (only changes to green if a vehicle is on the sensor). Slight problem - a bit "upstream" from this light was a rail crossing (industrial spur), without enough space for a tractor-trailer between the crossing and the light (by the time the trailer was clear of the crossing, the tractor would be fouling the intersection), and there was no sensor "upstream" from the tracks - if you stopped before the tracks, the light wouldn't go green unless another vehicle came along the other direction, and if you pulled onto the sensor, you'd be on the tracks.

[fireheart]

Now with karaoke version!

[Chromatix]

Slight problem with using the starter: virtually all recent (early '90s and later) manual transmissions have a clutch interlock for safety reasons (engine won't crank unless clutch pedal is depressed), and automatics have a shift interlock (won't crank unless in park or neutral), so the starter won't move the vehicle.

Remind me to disable that interlock on any vehicle I own.

Some years back, my previous carrier picked up near Barrie, and the way out of this customer's site used a "demand light" (only changes to green if a vehicle is on the sensor). Slight problem - a bit "upstream" from this light was a rail crossing (industrial spur), without enough space for a tractor-trailer between the crossing and the light (by the time the trailer was clear of the crossing, the tractor would be fouling the intersection), and there was no sensor "upstream" from the tracks - if you stopped before the tracks, the light wouldn't go green unless another vehicle came along the other direction, and if you pulled onto the sensor, you'd be on the tracks.

And that's called an unsafe crossing. Accidents are quite regularly caused by such configurations. It should not exist, and it must be fixed ASAP - by moving the traffic light and the sensor to the opposite side of the rail crossing.

There's a pair of level crossings in Wales that are very close to each other on the same road - one serves a standard-gauge line, and the other a narrow-gauge line. The two lines meet at a station not far away. For safety, the two crossings are interlocked so that only one of them can close to road traffic at a time. Trains are signalled to stop unless the crossing is operating, so they remain safe. If two trains approach at the same time, the standard-gauge line is given priority.

[TheSHAD0W]

And of course there are parodies...

Dumb Ways to Die (in video games)

Dead Ways to Die (The Walking Dead)

[DGoddessChardonnay]

And yet there's a new parody:

Dumber Ways To Die