You're gonna lose every time.

This particular grade crossing didn't have gates, just crossbucks with lights, but regardless, if the lights are flashing, STOP. Your life isn't worth losing over waiting a few minutes for a train.

Two people died over one persons stupidity. That locomotive was easily doing 45-50 mph.

http://myfox8.com/2015/03/14/video-shows-car-being-hit-by-train-two-killed-two-injured/

Edit: Here's the video from the guy you see across the street in the first video. You get to see how long it takes a train to stop.

http://m.liveleak.com/view?i=ed2_1426451384

Here's the other obvious stupidity of the people in the car, those train enthusiasts were in the street, they didn't even slow down for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPK9z59yUc

Not defending the actions of the Camry driver, as it was obviously Darwin at work, but I think it's odd that there were no gates/arms blocking the tracks. If they were blaring music with the windows up, they might not have heard the bells, although I'd assume the flashing lights were more visible in real life vs. a blurry twitter clip.

That "Chicken With A Train" video was so lame it made my scrotum sore.

In reply to gamby:

Actually, it's common that most crossbucks on infrequently traveled rail lines have only lights and no gates.

Not to far from my house there is a spur line used for a gravel pit. It crosses several roads. None of the crossbucks have gates. The one road I travel has a tree line that runs along the line all the way up to the road. You can bet that when those lights are flashing, I stop.

Ok, maybe I've been under a rock or something...

What in the ever-loving hell is that garbage?

I got about 30 seconds in and had to shut it off.

moparman76_69 wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPK9z59yUc

Trans_Maro wrote: Ok, maybe I've been under a rock or something... What in the ever-loving hell is that garbage? I got about 30 seconds in and had to shut it off.

moparman76_69 wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPK9z59yUc

Precursor to "bro country"? Actual "bro country"?

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to gamby: Actually, it's common that most crossbucks on infrequently traveled rail lines have only lights and no gates. Not to far from my house there is a spur line used for a gravel pit. It crosses several roads. None of the crossbucks have gates. The one road I travel has a tree line that runs along the line all the way up to the road. You can bet that when those lights are flashing, I stop.

So basically, distracted driver or really, REALLY stupid driver.

gamby wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to gamby: Actually, it's common that most crossbucks on infrequently traveled rail lines have only lights and no gates. Not to far from my house there is a spur line used for a gravel pit. It crosses several roads. None of the crossbucks have gates. The one road I travel has a tree line that runs along the line all the way up to the road. You can bet that when those lights are flashing, I stop.

So basically, distracted driver or really, REALLY stupid driver.

Pretty much.

i can find at least a dozen railroad crossings within 10 miles of my house that don't have anything more than signs saying you are about to cross train tracks.. all but one of them are on gravel roads, and one is on a road that was only paved within the last 5 years and it leads to a brand new housing development with about 500 lots in it... most of them can be used to take some pretty sweet jumps if you are driving a beater that you don't care about... or so i've heard..

Same thing happened yesterday in Alton Illinois. Truck vs Amtrak. Guess who won. Drug the pickup 300 yards.

News Link

We've had a rash of geniuses stopping on the tracks in traffic between closed gates and getting pummeled by oncoming trains.

This one isn't real, but same idea!

Fireproof

It has a better outcome.

I live in a college town of about 10,000-15,000 that has a fairly active CSX freight line right through the middle of it. Somebody gets killed at least once a year, even though there are several pedestrian underpasses, and gates at all the grade crossings. There are even separate little swing arms for the sidewalks.

Eddie Griffin style isn't the way to go out :(

We had one happen yesterday in the ATL area. The intersection does have arms and bells and lights. Drivers stop on the tracks and then panic when the crossing arms come down. Drive through them! They do break. If there is a car in front of you that doesn't want to move out of your way because of a traffic light - ram them!
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/28524155/several-vehicles-hit-by-train-in-dekalb

Around me, only the main roads and rural crossings where fatalities have occurred have arms/lights....most rural crossings have only a stop sign.....and got help anyone who gets hit by the trains running up our line. I was sitting in town with the Marshall last night laughing at using the radar unit on the train. 68mph through a sleepy little town of 700 people.

Tommy played piano

like a kid out in the rain,

Lost his leg in Dallas,

he was dancing with a train...

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to gamby: Actually, it's common that most crossbucks on infrequently traveled rail lines have only lights and no gates.

Hell, there are plenty that don't even have lights, just a sign.

There's one particularly terrifying one with just a sign by me and crap visibility in one direction. Not a high traffic rail line, but if the train is coming from the south and you approach the crossing from the west, good luck seeing it. By the time you're far enough forward to look down the line, you are already going to get hit.

Talking about this the other night at work made me realize something.. most people think that trains can stop quickly.. like stopping a car quick. I had to explain to my co-worker that trains weigh a -lot- and that steel wheels on steel tracks is not exactly the best for generating high friction.

For some reason, the ungated crossings that I cross every day have tree/hedges growing along the side so that motorist cant see if a train is approaching. I would love to know what the rational is for that?

Combine that with the once a week lights going off for no reason, and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

In reply to trucke: Clip not playable. But iirc, One of the cars in the clip belongs to a member here, SVreX. I think he also had a bit more to do with the movie.

My dad worked for a railroad his whole life and I was always amazed at how many cars got hit at crossings. And even more amazed at how many of those drivers tried to sue the railroad for hitting them

around here lots of the backroads are 45mph and have nothing but a crossbuck sign. so few people slow down let alone actually slow down enough to look both ways that i'm surprised there have not been any accidents like that in recent memory. the worst one was a few years ago some dumb kids kept jumping the tracks that had a stop sign in the middle of the night in a cavalier, and the car or driver finally erred after getting 50+ feet in the air, landing hard, rolling, and killing 4 of them. the families sued the railroad, state, county, municipality for "unsafe crossing" - and won. like the railroad was responsible for them going over the speed limit, running a stop sign, and jumping the tracks. i got pissed off when they built a memorial to them, as if being praised for their stupidity. the road is now a smooth ramp leading up to the tracks and has a gate.

Yeah, saw that clip of the Camry getting clobbered. I swear I have lost track of the number of times I've come to an intersection which includes a RR crossing and people just stop on the tracks since at that moment there's no train. This includes crossings with the arm that drops, shows you how bright these people are. I have once witnessed a crossing going active, the arm dropped and hit a guy's Grand Cherokee on the roof. He wasn't close enough for the train to hit his car but he couldn't pull forward and he couldn't back up, the crossing arm just kept bouncing off the roof while he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Dumbass.

I have more than once come to an active crossing with the arms already down, seen a train coming and watched people pull out of the line, speed down to the crossing, then 'thread the needle' between the arms. Once it was a minivan full of kids with some woman at the wheel, that one made my blood freeze.

Curmudgeon wrote: I have more than once come to an active crossing with the arms already down, seen a train coming and watched people pull out of the line, speed down to the crossing, then 'thread the needle' between the arms. Once it was a minivan full of kids with some woman at the wheel, that one made my blood freeze.

good gods... seeing that would make my blood freeze too.

I can sorta understand why people would do it. When I worked in Reading PA, the main cargo line for the area went right through the centre of the city. It could literally take 20 minutes for it to pass.. bringing the entire city to a standstill.. provided it did not need to stop, back, and move onto a different siding.. then it could take over half an hour of waiting.

But other than that.. most trains move through a -lot- faster and do not really hold you up any longer than a badly timed traffic light