Last Sunday there was another incident on the Maine Eastern RR in Rockland ME. An SUV ignored or did not see the flagman at a crossing, and drove in front of the oncomming train - a Christmas ‘Polar Express’ special for childern. The whole thing started last summer when residents near the crossings complained about the noise of the train whistle; MERR agreed to stop blowing the horn and place flaggers at 3 crossings that did not have lights or gates. Now, this person just drove by the flagger and got run into by the train. Fortunately, the train was going slowly and no one was injured. See the news report on this link; click Play Video for the full story:
“Honestly Officer, I didnt see that guy in a bright orange jumpsuit with reflective tape all over his body waving a lantern at me and screaming ‘stop you idiot’…honestly I didnt see the train going 5 mph or its bright headlight !”
OK thats my paraphrase of what the SUV driver likely told the police after… but Jezzzuuzzzz Christmastrees!!!
If it was a guy screaming “the bridge is out” it would be the same end result…what a complete idiot driver! So she hit the train, thats a funny twist, and the engineer could se it coming and hit the brakes before she even was in the crossing. Of course she’ll claim the engine jumped out of nowhere from behind a bush and hit her…What a maroon!
This is the exact reason why I think Quiet Zones are a huge load of Horse Poo. It may be loud but that noise saves lives. If you don’t like noise. Live somewhere else, the Railroad was there first.(In most cases.)
I’ve spent more than my fair share of time standing in the middle of the road wearing bright orange and yellow with reflective striping from here to kingdom come trying to get people to stop for one reason or another. Drivers are inattentive self absorbed idiots. The inability of some people to fail to see someone in the road (or do other highly skilled tasks such as avoid a row of orange cones) would boggle you mind. If the driver didn’t see the flag person, I doubt whistling would have done any good.
I don’t know what it is about trains, railroad crossings and people, I really don’t.
How’s this? The schools where my little ones attend spends lots of money on anti-drug, self esteem, and “stranger danger” assemblies, and educational materials, and the like. While walking through the halls of my 5 year old’s elementary school, I came across 1 poster about being safe around trains… and this school is 1 block from the busy IHB (no real high speed trains, but dangerous all the same) and that poster was at the end of a hallway in and amongst other posters about some of the aforementioned subjects, and was barely 10x14, you had to look to see it. So, I walked to the office and asked the receptionist when the last time “Operation Lifesaver” came out to talk to the kids. She couldn’t remember, so she asked one of the teachers that had been at that school for years, and she couldn’t remember. So, I asked to speak to the principal, and asked her why they don’t have a speaker from OL come to the school, I mean, after all, the school is 1 block from the tracks, and most of the students live within a few blocks of either the IHB or BNSF or both. I told her they should make “train safety” a bigger priority than it apparently is… She told me they would consider the suggestion.
There is a crossing guard (no lights or gates) at the one crossing the kids use, but every morning, I still see kids run across the tracks, sometimes when a train is coming. One morning, as the students were gathering for the start of the day, a CN extra came through, blowing it’s horn for all it’s worth as it approached the school’s pedestrian crossing… I heard one mother exclaim to another “You know, I wish those damn trains would stop that, this is a school zone!!” I shook my head in disgust. And, my son, who was with me said, to no one in p
[soapbox] Have you ever thought to yourself that the folks whose homes are right at the Rochelle diamonds (and if you have never been there, there are at least a dozen or more…likely more than 20) must go nuts litening to the trains cross the diamonds day and night, 24-7, 365 days a year!..Well, the rails were there LONG before any of these old homes were built.
If the railroad and the local jurisdiction mutually agreed to a horn free environment, then it looks like everyone materially involved should have been happy.
The fool that disregarded the crossing guards got what they had coming to them, I hope the RR submits a whopping repair bill to the car driver’s insurance company, hope it maxes out their coverage, and places the driver in debt for a long time.
No need for ALL the local residents to suffer at the noise of the horns just because a few idiots are stupid.
we wouldn’t require EVERYONE to wear depends undergarments just because SOME people are incontinent, nor ban all guns just because SOME people are bank robbers, so lets not call the noise abatement agreements a failure just because a few people obviously are. [oX)]
Well this is an interesting grade crossing incident. I do have one little thing to point out. I personally don’t think it is a good idea to set up a quiet zone when there are no adiquate (sp) warning signals at the crossing itself. I don’t care if it was a little brach line that only sees 1 train a day. The point is that danger can happen at any time when you least expect it. If a city wants to apply for a quite zone there should be a minimum of waring lights and bells, at least. I think some of these little citys or towns need to take into consideration saftey before comfort.
AS a matter of fact I really don’t beleive in quite zones, because they cut down on safety. [:D]
It’s not just railroad crossings that bring the stupidity out of people.
Ever notice the idiots out on the highway who seem to think that if they can pull onto the highway from a side road in time to get completely in front of you, then it’s “your job” to slow down and keep from rear ending them?
Or the idiots who seem to think the passing lane belongs to them first and formost , and if they want to pass a car that you are already passing, but they want to go faster than you, they assume YOU are blocking THEIR passing lane, and start throwing a tantrum with the headlights, horn, and sometimes the gas pedal?
And don’t even get me started on shopping center parking lot mania.
It’s all about people’s petty selfishness,and unwillingness to wait their turn.
I see a fair share of numbskulls try to drive around crossing gates, even with the train’s horns blaring , so to try and blame this accident on a quiet zone agreement in place, seems to me to be a specious argument.
The problem is that the “fool” that disregarded the crossing guards can always claim non-agreement with the horn-free policy and sue the railroad and the local jurisdiction for creating an unsafe environment.
I wonder if it is quieter to have the sound of a collision, emergency vehicles and news people stomping around for hours and hours than to have a train blow a horn passing through or warning bells and lights.
When I worked in city government in a medium sized city, a group built a nursing home across the street from a fire station. They then got the fire station to not turn on the sirens until the trucks were at the corner because the noise disturbed the residents. They still complained because of the emergency lights being turned on at night woke them up even when the trucks were down the street.
During the summer, MERR runs 4 or 5 passenger trains to Brunswick and back every day. During the Rockland Lobster Festival and Jazz Festival, they run 3 or 4 extras as well. They also run freights, but on another track; this track goes to the Rockland station. They run freight year round. Any local person would be aware of the crossing - not many tourists on the Maine coast this time of year. There was no mention of cell phone one way or the other.
The crossing gates would have been in service today if the copper wire and other equipment had not been STOLEN a few months ago. MERR will be blowing horns at the 3 crossings in town until they get the crossing gates installed.