Looks like the trash is spread out pretty good , I might stand a chance of finding those N scale grab irons I think I tossed last week …
Randy
[quote user=“Semper Vaporo”]
Although how the trailer missed the gate while being pushed/drug/thrown to its final position is almost unbelievable!
One gate arm was damaged; crossing protection was operating properly. The gate mast and flashers were remarkably not damaged. I can assure you it was a long, hot and nasty day for all of us there…
News coverage has changed. It used to be that you only heard about local incidents and that news stayed local. Now-a-days, with at least three 24 hour TV news organization looking to fill air time…even local interest stories get national coverage more often than ever before. Nature abhor’s a vacuum and TV News abhors dead air time.
It sounds like the driver in this crash was too slow to react to the crossing signals as was the truck driver in the Nevada crash. In the Nevada crash, the truck skidded 300 feet before striking the train. In the Maine crash, the truck skidded 200 feet and stopped on the crossing just before being hit by the train. Apparently, the driver steered during the skid in an attempt to miss the first lowered gate. And apparently his truck stopped before it reached the second gate. However, the driver was unable to backup and avoid getting hit by the train.
So, in the Maine crash, it appears as though the driver missed about 1/4 second too much of the warning.
Yet, if you increase the amount of warning time, from when the gates and lights start to operate to when the train first enters the crossing space, you run the risk of more drivers running the gates to try to beat the train. perhaps that is what the Maine and/or Nevada drivers initially tried, and then realized they had misjudged too late.
I am not necessarily advocating more warning time at the Maine crash crossing, but I am advocating that for the Nevada crossing. In regard to the Maine crash, I am only commenting on how close the driver was to getting stopped in time.
In both the Nevada and the Maine crashes, I conclude that the drivers were not trying to beat the train. Drivers crash through the gates because they can’t stop in time or don’t see the gates for some reason of distraction or impairment. I doubt that any driver has ever intentionally crashed through the gates because he or she was trying to beat the train. Crashing the gates is bound to do some damage to the vehicle, and that would more than offset any possible advantage in avoiding a train delay.
Know what’s scary?
These drivers that didn’t happen to notice the gates, flahsing lights, advanced warning signs, etc…
…are (well, were) probably also driving on roads that hosted school buses making pickups and drop-offs.
So yeah, continue the debate how we should try to build a better mousetrap.
it is very scary and in relation to traffic lights, very common.
I am not aware of that debate, nor am I continuing it. That is your misinterpretation of what I am saying here, just as you misinterpret what I was saying about the Nevada crash.
Only in the case of high speed crossings such as the one in the Nevada crash, am I advocating that the athorities apply the warning extension feature, which they have already invented for that application. So even in the Nevada crash, what I am advocating is hardly what I would consider to be “building a better mousetrap.” It is a mousetrap that is already on the shelf ready for use.
My only point in the above post was to rule out the motive of trying to beat the train.
I don’t think you succeeded in ruling that out, and perhaps it makes no difference anyway. Reckless driving in both cases.
Fine: substitute discussion instead of debate. But you are the one throwing around the term “apparently” in regards to both of these crashes where nothing official has been determined. “Apparently” you must be privy to information that no one else has, including what the dead men were thinking.
Ok, so we are not building a better mousetrap - just purchasing one. Because all problems can be solved by spending even more money.
Well by saying “apparently,” I am speculating on what happened, based on the evidence.
The only fool proof way to prevent these accidents is to eliminate at grade crossings. No matter how many warnings and obstructions you put in the path of the motorists, people will find a way to defeat them.
Since the cost is so high it would probably take at least 50 years to accomplish.
The sooner we get started the sooner it will be done. Start with the crossings where someone has already been killed. At the very least we could stop building NEW at grade crossings.
Ininteresting discussion, but does not seem to offer any other possibilities beyond the obvious, tragic circumstances of what the net results of the collisions were.[2c]
Quentin’s question as to what has changed and why are these crashes seeming to happen more often. One of the other Posters advised that it was part of the process of the “24 Hour News Cycle”, and the old addage that,‘… nothing sells Newspapers (and to update it) brings watchers to TV News like bad news.’ Producers are constantly looking for information to fill the available minutes of news broadcasts.
Before retiring in 2002 I worked in Trucking Safety, for a medium sized trucking company. One of the issues that was on our horizon was that of sleepy drivers and what were those causes for apparent sleep-related, drive- inattentive events? One of the main culprits was thought to be micro naps; events triggered by a fatigued driver whose brain was shifted into a micro nap by the defensive reactions of the brain as it sought to shut down functions to ‘save itself’ by conserving its energy. Micro naps could be intervals of anything n from a few seconds to much longer intervals of sleep.
Micro Naps are a completely involuntary function of the brain and are a protective strategy fo
How true: After experiencing one when driving I never again drove when sleepy. I would and do stop hopefully at a fairly safe location. Told dispatcher if sleepy forget the schedule and it was accepted. Note: was always able to make my ETA.