Another Death at a Grade Crossing

Obstructions (buildings, plants, etc) notwithstanding, sometimes the biggest impediment to seeing trains is not looking.

The Kentucky incident involved four young adults - in their early 20’s. I have little doubt that there was conversation going on in the car, to the extent that the driver was not actually driving, but was simply keeping the car “between the lines.” I think most of us have experienced that, whether we want to admit it or not.

The crossing (N 38.19403 W 85.64397) does not appear to be on a major thoroughfare. In fact, it doesn’t even look like a good shortcut, so we don’t know why they were there, unless they lived in the area.

I’m betting they drove over that crossing on a regular basis without seeing trains, so the idea that they might encounter one there may not have occurred to them.

There may have been a cultural issue as well, based on the names of the victims that have been released.

Based on the video, gates might have prevented this incident, as they would have been down well before the car reached the crossing. This wasn’t a case of someone stopping and then driving around the gates/over the c

To answer the above question: here is another way it can be done…Unfortunately [:'(]

From this linked story from Post-Tribune of this date 3/18/2015 @ http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-cedar-lake-train-death-st-0318-20150317-story.html

"Boy, 13, walking home from school struck, killed by train in Cedar Lake"

FTA:[snipped] "…Investigators believe Jeffery, was using the tracks as a shortcut home from Hanover Middle School. He was wearing earphones when he was struck.

According to witnesses, the boy was walking north along the side of the tracks with a hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head. The engineer tried to alert the boy by blowing the train’s horn, police said…"

I recall reading a while back of a deaf beauty queen who was walking on the tracks with her back to the oncoming train. Predictably, she was struck and killed.

Something similar happened years ago in nearby Slidell, La. A man was struck and killed while walking on the tracks. It turned out he was not only deaf but full of heroin. The family sued, but I don’t know the outcome.

Report of local college girl struck and killed by a vehicle while running with headphones on.

Take the headphones off - what you hear may save your life!

Reminds me of high school driver’s ed. Our teacher had to leave early from our last period class. He split us up into several groups, and sent us to intersections near the school, telling us to write down the names of people we recognized who ran the stop signs. You guessed it. We hadn’t been at our appointed corner very long before Mr. Prentice came barreling through the stop sign. [D)] Another group was excited because they saw the principal run the stop sign at their corner.[:-,]

Crossing design also comes into play, especially in older cities. I now run regularly up to a Georgia Pacific mill in Green Bay, and to get to the mill, I run down Ashland Avenue, which parallels the CN-WC main. The crossings here are interlocked with the traffic signals, but the sensors are in the wrong places for semis on Lombardi Ave and the other street I use. So, I wind up crossing the tracks and sitting with my tail hanging out over the railroad tracks just to trip the traffic lights. Not a good situation, but it has to be done. Just have to be extra cautious when I leave the mill…

Have you brought this to the attention of the RR, or G-P, or the Green Bay traffic dept.?

Tom

Fitness guru fouls track, is struck, killed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/19/personal-trainer-killed-train-shooting-youtube-video/25007365/

“Misjudged the width of the train…”

Idea #1 A white stop line before the grade crossing. A giant neon sign over the crossing that is surrounded by flashing lights with a big lighted arrow pointing to it that says “Do not stop on the tracks”. Perhaps augmented by a sensor in the crossing that detects the presence of vehicles that are not moving which triggers an alarm and a flashing sign that says “Get off the tracks, dummy”.

Idea #2 Replace the current gates with those pop up barriers that the government uses on all their driveways in DC. They could drop down if someone drives onto them from the track side.

Idea #3 Stop creating NEW grade level crossings and begin a 100 year program to gradually eliminate the existing crossings beginning with the ones with the worst accident history. People are too stupid to allow them to drive across the tracks. Only grade separation will stop the carnage.

The white line is already there on most crossings. As for the sign, you’d have to hope the driver isn’t busy with their smart phone, so they could actually see it…

Given today’s technology, maybe something that would sense the driver’s Facebook account and post a picture to it with a caption indicating the stupidity of the driver’s actions…[}:)]

I think this has been tried. It could be something of a maintenance headache in the northern latitudes, where ice, salt, and sand enter the equation.

I

Quoting tree68: "

The white line is already there on most crossings. As for the sign, you’d have to hope the driver isn’t busy with their smart phone, so they could actually see it…

Given today’s technology, maybe something that would sense the driver’s Facebook account and post a picture to it with a caption indicating the stupidity of the driver’s actions…"

Larry, I really appreciate your comments–especially the second one. It seems that all too many people do not realize how serious the matter of driving a car is. It is bad enough to be carrying on a conversation with someone riding with you–but another passenger might be able to call your attention to a hazard, whereas someone miles away absolutely cannot.

Ideas #1 & #2 were sarcasm. As for #3, here in Charlotte they created at least 6 new crossings when they built the light rail Blue Line and are creating more now as they extend it. They have had several collisions at those new crossings.

I think the idea of posts rising out of the road has been tried at a crossing - sarcasm notwithstanding, someone else thought enough of the idea to prototype it.

#1 rings of that “Death” crossing warning sign.

For whatever the reason, local authorities, don’t consider ‘light rail’ to be a railroad and seem to think that the light rail vehicles and automotive vehicles can share the same pieces of the world without causing accidents when they try to occupy the same space at the same time.

Something like this:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pop+up+driveway+barrier&qpvt=pop+up+driveway+barrier&qpvt=pop+up+driveway+barrier&FORM=IGRE&id=8398D2EA2981274F21BB6926B68C730902ED58BE&selectedIndex=0#view=detail&id=8398D2EA2981274F21BB6926B68C730902ED58BE&selectedIndex=0

Balt, there is concern in Salt Lake City. I am thankful that there are now very few incidents of trespassing on TRAX tracks (which, in large part, except downtown, use the same right of way used by the Salt Lake Line’s route to Provo which is also used for freight service at night). People are much more aware of the danger inherent in trying to beat the train. The lights begin to flash before the gates come down, and continue to flash until the gates are fully up.

However, this year the legislature passed a change in the law concerning how soon you may cross the tracks once a train has passed–it is now legal to start once the gates are high enough for you to cross and it is not necessary to wait until the lights stop flashing. If all of these protected crossings were close to a station, the new situation might not be really bad–but there are several crossings between stations, and it is possible for a train to be coming from the opposite direction after one tra

Here’s Another Incident… Atlanta Area on Tuesday(2/14/2015):

See Linked @ http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/buckhead/2015/03/18/personal-trainer-hit-by-freight-train-was-making-you-tube-video/24987189/

FTA:[snip]"…Travis Williams, who had changed his name to Achilles Williams, was a personal trainer who often videotaped outdoor workouts for his YouTube channel. Investigators say Williams and a friend were shooting a video near the train tracks over Roxboro Road near East Paces Ferry at the time of the accident. Williams was jumping rope while the friend shot video.

Investigators say Williams was not on the tracks, but was close enough to them [ apparently, he was using a jump rope?] to be struck as the freight train went by. They say he apparently misjudged the width of the train in relation to the size of the tracks. His friend was not injured but he was knocked down a hill by the impact…"[snip]

IRRC: Was there not a similar incident out in California, a while back?

One picture made it seem that it was a welded rail train.

I’m sure there were multiple factors involved in this incident, and my guess would be young inexperienced driver, multiple in car distractions (smart phone or conversation or bet to beat train as a game), unfamiliar with road and frequency of rail traffic, and/or to impatient to wait 2-3 minutes for the train to pass.

People can’t even stop at stop sign so you think they want to wait for a train. There are reasons there are stop signs and there are reasons there are crossing signals. There not put there for looks!