I drove for quite a few years had a guy one time after rear ending my trailer completely at his fault say I came out of nowhere. A big white tridem crane truck with red stripes and an orange crane just poof came out of nowhere.

 

At least with a train, 'nowhere' is either to your right or left hand sides.

 

Agreed its so simple i'm amazed people can actually get hit by them.

 

When I was still working I was going form on service call to another on a road I always travel that had a track the crossed at a angle. I could see the light on train coming towards the crossing so I let off the gas and was calling my customer when I heard a noise off to my right, it was the train coming to a emergence stop I could also see a car door tumbling down the track. I looked ahead and the Astro van that was in front of me was halfway in the left ditch with the train still going by. When I pulled up behind the van I could see a good share of the vans front end sitting in the right lane. Being a Fire Chief and EMT on a neighboring district I called the Sheriff's office first on my fire radio and then walked up to the left side of the van and there was this older guy still holding on to the steering wheel with eyes big as big as saucers. I asked him if he was alright and he said he was but his wife was hurt. She was still sitting in the passenger seat belted in with nothing in front of her, I went over to that side and she was bleeding from a small cut in her head and elbow. There was nothing left of the van in front of her just the seat and about 1 foot of floor board the rest was in the road.

The SP officer asked me if I seen it happen and I had to say no because I was on my phone, after a dirty look I told him I could see the train coming so I was just coasting to a stop. He asked me if the sun was in my eyes and I said no. The driver of the van said the sun was on his eyes and that's my he drove through the cross arm and into the train. He was lucky because he hit the fuel tank on the second engine so it kicked him out instead of pulling him into the train.

I talked to the dispatcher a few days later and she said she was never heard me that excited on the radio, I told her normally the accident already has happened and we are going to it not happening in front of me. She also knew I had lost my sister in law a few years back to a car train accident.

Denny

Denny

 

That sounds just like the accident I had with a school bus. Hit me head on. Drivers not paying any attention to driving. Just other things.

 

I see people stopping on the tracks all the time in Dunnellon, Florida. It just amazes me the lack of common sense. Some people are just truly stupid, a few months back a car pulled out of a parking space in a little strip mall into the space in front of me - which was directly on the tracks, stopped there waiting for in the traffic that was waiting for a green light 1/2 a block away.

He was a local - had citrus county Florid plates on his car. Just amazes me how dumb some people can be.

 

Bet he was a snow birder that either had two cars, one at home, the other in FL.

I believe it's Houston where you make a turn from one road to another and there are train tracks in a car's length and an entire backed up line of traffic on the other side of the tracks ..... and for sure some in England and Scotland like that.

 

Most of our crossings have either electrically controlled barriers or manually operated gates, the former with warning lights, but we still get Darwin award candidates that can manage to park on the tracks. My neighbour is a signal operator at one of the busiest crossings in our area & we get to hear some pretty scary stories. I just don't understand how saving a few minutes is worth risking you & possibly your loved ones lives.