Choo Choo !! train hits truck

I will give the silver SUV a 8.5 on the 0-10 scale, good height, decent form but a deduction for the rough landing.

But really happens all too often, dont understand it. I see the driver had time to get out and then was screaming like little girl, I wonder if he had a clearer head he might of pulled the pin and saved the tractor. Yes, some people do/can keep a cool head under extreme pressure but who knows how much time from when stuck to the hit.

One thing I never understood till recently was every intense situation ive been in has happened in slow motion and not all have this but it is the mind is functioning faster in order to process the situation and gives time for correction. At least thats what I was told.

No way of knowing why the driver decided not to back it up away from the tracks ... the gates are still moving, so it got stuck before the gates dropped.. at least he got the heck out of the cab..


But let me share this tidbit:
- I cross a set of double, active, passenger and freight tracks every time I go to my storage garage. This is on a long, straight high speed stretch. Last year, the crossing got new pavement, gates and signals. THE GATES ARE FAST!

What I'm saying is, in "the old days", the lights would start blinking, and if you were in motion close enough to the crossing, you could squeak across before the gates came down.. NOT ANY MORE!

Now, the gates come down FAST - almost as soon as the lights start blinking. This was such a surprise, I videoed and shared it on my FB page for my local friends to watch out for..

I wonder if anyone has gotten used to the "old" gate speed and gotten caught by the faster-dropping gates.

Be careful out there.
- Art

Ouch.
Also, choose your transporter wisely...

It always makes me grin that "choo-choo" is an adjective that's so often combined with "train".
Guess that gets stuck in childhood memory and gets carried through adulthood.

Those trailers are really low. Guaranteed he got high centered and as soon as that happens all the weight comes off the drive tires because the air suspension dumps. The tires now have just slightly more traction than if they were hanging in mid air.

Been there, done that. Fortunately not on a raised crossing but still needed a wrecker to get pulled off. Actually 2 of them and it didn't come back a foot and I was free.

Kevin

Props to the camera guy for getting out of his truck and filming it so we could get a clear view...........

The hang time on the silver truck was pretty impressive, but I gotta ask, how well was it tied down? It seemed to come off too easy.

Well your head is pretty well attached to your body but I bet it would come off pretty easy if you were hit by a fast-moving train !!

I like how the driver way frantically waving his hand, as if the train would see him and stop in time. Plus the wailing after the impact. Buddy, what did you think was going to happen?!?

It looked to me that as the train hit the trailer, the trailer pretty much came apart. (the train hit the trailer in front of that SUV). Those nylon tire holding tie downs won't do much if the trailer frame disappears from under them.

he was definitely badly high-centered. I had to look up the story and thank goodness no one was seriously injured.

And to those making fun of the driver wailing and waving his arms--in hindsight it was kind of funny, but at the time the guy may have thought he just killed a train load of people. Or at a minimum lost his job or his livelihood with that rig.

In a real crisis most people don't know what to do so they act irrationally or (more often) don't act at all. Rare is the individual who can keep a cool head and act quickly in the heat of the moment. And it is is usually NOT the guy you would expect.

I'll just put this here...

That train driver was paying zero attention. He was traveling full speed, don't appear to make any attempt to slow down, did not honk the horn till the last second (they are supposed to honk at least 3 times within 15 seconds of an intersection, 2 long honks and one short one) . I live and work right next to train tracks and see loaded 9000 ft coal trains slow down faster than that when a herd of elk are on the track.

The long long short long horn signal is sop for level crossing but, there are areas that have quiet zones where the horn signal is not allowed.

A slow moving coal train has many more wheels and brakes than a high speed passenger train.

Depending on train length it can actually take a couple minutes for the brakes to fully apply.

Best post of 2021!

X2

A few months ago I was driving a single axle truck and was sitting at a R/R crossing in Jersey City N.J. when the gates came down I of course stopped after sitting there quite awhile it was obvious that no train was coming and there was a malfunction. I naturally wouldn't take a chance so I continued to sit there. there happened to be a sign with the rail roads phone number right there so I called and informed them of the malfunction but nobody came. I just turned around and found another route but there must have been at least ten cars and trucks that just drove around the downed gates including a tow truck. I couldn't believe it! What a risk to take! A good friend of mine who is a R/R buff has a poster in his garage stating : Car vs Train ... You lose! I always have that in my mind when approaching a crossing. That and common sense!

My dad is a retired rail road engineer. And the stories he has told me about cars / trucks that think they can beat the train ,,,,and lost is rough. Far far to many think it wont happen to them . Some paid the ultimate price.
Ive seen first hand what a train can do to pretty much anything and everything. And it aint pretty

One of the best ones was a drunk decided to sleep it off.......only he parked it with the front wheels over one of the tracks ,,,to hold his pickup in place I guess. And he simply passed out in the front seat.

My dad hit him at about a 40 mph clip. drug the guys truck for several hundred yards before it came loose from the nose of the train.

Surprising enough,,,the guy walked away from it


Another time a driver thought he could get thru the crossing / beat the oncoming train that didnt have the barriers that came down,,,,,,just lights ( was in rural area ) ,,,,,,he was wrong and and they picked up the pieces for nearly a mile

Wow...and that white van rolling along the top of the locomotive...holy s**t.
Wonder if he'll be able to collect unemployment.?.?