Police dash cam of a NS Train crushing a van.
See video in the attached link.
Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do back at the AT&T shop!
As Bugs Bunny used to say, “What a maroon!”
Paging Mr Darwin, Mr. Darwin please…
Here we go again with maligning crossing vctims: “idiot” “darwin, darwin.” Does that make you feel better?
So how about the thread on here about the Amtrak employee that was killed recently by a train? An Amtrak employee was struck and killed by a New Jersey Transit train during Tuesday’s early-morning commute. The incident happened at about 4:45 a.m. as the train passed through New Brunswick, NJ. The train was carrying about 300 passengers from Trenton to Penn Station in Manhattan. The Amtrak employee was working on the tracks, which are part of the Northeast Corridor and shared by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. Amtrak officials are investigating the incident.
He, more than ordinary folks, should have known better about the dangers of standing on a track. Double standard?
Can’t speak for everyone else, but I never said a thing about that Amtrak employee.
Of course not. You would not. And that is my point. Nobody ever suggested he was a Darwin winner or mentally defective. And they should not have. But an ordinary civilian’s death at a crossing brings out the ghoul squad on here
Neither the Cop or the Driver of the hung up vehicle showed all that much situational awareness as they moved in the direction of the trains travel and could have been hit by the vehicle as a secondary impact after the train struck the vehicle - fortunately the truck continued with the train after the initial impact.
I see a couple issues here.
The tractor trailer driver also went across the crossing without adequate space to clear the tracks. AT&T Van shouldn’t have been following blindly, but got trapped on the tracks, too. Looks like he panicked and tried to get off the tracks.
Is that traffic light tied into the crossing? If it is, it looks like it didn’t change (going by the reaction of the cars) until the gates were already dropping. Not good. Granted nobody should be stopped on the tracks to begin with, but these crossigns next to intersections like that are messed up.
Good job on the officer. I hope he gets some recognition. As far as going towards the oncoming train - perhaps a public awareness campaign is needed?
The driver was cited for ignoring the lights - remember that the lights start well before the gates start down. He had plenty of time to stop.
http://fox8.com/2016/03/11/driver-cited-for-ignoring-lights-after-train-hits-van-in-brook-park/
On top of that, he tried going around the truck on the right side. If he was concerned about getting off the crossing, the pavement on the left side was the safer bet.
The crossing is here: N 41 23’ 49" W 81 50’ 32"
Here is the criteria for an actual “Darwin Award:”
[quote]
"In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the
Here is a little flashback about the Darwin Award:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/175299.aspx
People make mistakes. Sometimes it is stupidity, but I think more often it’s a naive lack of understanding of the real situation. As for the Amtrak employee, I understand trains were running wrong main that day. Was there a lack of communication? Was he so used to thinking in terms of right-hand running that he failed to adjust his thinking? I’m sure we’ll never know, but I’d prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he’s not around to defend his actions.
By the way, death is not the only way to qualify for a Darwin Award. One can do so by rendering oneself incapable of reproducing, thus removing oneself from the gene pool, and a number of people have “won” the award in that way.
Tom
Never trust anyone who worries about the purity of the gene pool.
Darwin, Australia is some people’s automatic default Darwin of first reference.
http://www.marforpac.marines.mil/Units/MarineRotationalForceDarwin.aspx
In the case of railroad employees being killed in incidents that defy the understanding of fellow employees in how it could happen - some desire that their final statement on earth being something that stains the record of the company that employs them. Suicide is something that is difficult to ‘prove’ in railroad operations as a simple ‘legitmate’ oversight can fully explain the happening.
Thank you!! A very thoughtful and compassionate comment. Do we not owe the same to non-rail folks killed in rail RoW incidents?
Would the same amount of scorn be piled on to those who die in traffic accidents? Is the poor lady who misjudged something on the highway and gets killed in a car accident a prime candidate for derision?
Absolutely not.
I should hope not!!
Let’s back up a bit here.
Certainly a trackside death is nothing to laugh at or make jokes about, I wouldn’t do it and I’m sure most of the posters here wouldn’t do it either, it would certainly indicate an unhealthy level of hard-heartedness to say nothing of being in bad taste, however THIS particular incident is another matter.
No-one died or was injured, it was more like a “Demolition Derby” between a locomotive and a van, a prime candidate for inclusion on an “America’s Dumbest” TV show. It could have ended badly but didn’t, thank God, so in my opinion it’s OK to make jokes or snarky comments.
I’m reminded of the old circus clown rule, “If it bends, it’s funny. If it breaks, it ain’t funny.” Aside from the AT&T van, nothing “broke” here.
Honestly though, in the case of a trackside tresspasser death my REAL sympathies go out to the head-end crews. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in a situation where you know something terrible’s going to happen and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
If she tried to make a U turn on a busy Interstate from the right lane, across three lanes of high speed traffic to the “No U Turn” U turn because she missed her exit because she was talking on her cell phone, then yes.
Balt’s note notwithstanding, Darwin awardees have generally suffered their fate as the result of some action that totally defies logic at pretty much any level - like the copper thieves who try to steal wire while it’s still in use, carrying thousands of volts at who knows how many amps. Or jumping a fence (after several warnings to the contrary) and swimming across the moat to the tiger enclosure at a zoo…
On the other hand, the judges at Darwin Awards ruled that an incident involving a fellow who said the gun was empty, then pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger, was “too common.”
It’s hard sometimes to define a potential Darwin Award recipient, but usually you know one when you see one…