MOUNT JULIET, Tenn.- Motorists ticketed for different violations received a valuable lesson on driving safety Saturday morning.
They witnessed what happens when a car tries to beat a train.
The demonstration took place along the tracks that the Music City Star travels. The commuter train travels between Lebanon and downtown Nashville each week day.
It’s a crossing a lot of people pass everyday and safety officials wanted to show people just how dangerous it can be if they’re not careful when they cross.
A train, traveling about 40 miles per hour, crashed into a car sitting at a railroad crossing.
Thrown from the tracks, the car turned over a couple of times before landing in a ditch. Inside, a crash dummy was used to show long it would take emergency responders to extract an injured person from the car.
“There’s no way somebody could have walked out of that. No way,” said Ellen Rankins, whose 16-year son Zach Evans who received a speeding ticket and opted to attend the demonstration than traffic school.
I think that it’s a very good demonstration but I think people don’t really learn enough until it actually happens to them. Now some of them may walk away from that thinking there not going to race a train which is good, but others are going to walk away from it and completely blow it off thinking that they would beable to race and beat the train. I think it’s a great idea to show people how deadly it can be. I do it all the time on the Wisconsin Central training simulator in Duluth. I think a lot of people come out of there knowing that if they race the train, there is that possiblity of being killed. But I also think that I get some people who have come out of there and still don’t believe it will ever happen to them and they just blow it off.
So I think it depends on the person. You can’t change the mind of someone, but showing them is a good way to try persuade them not to do so.[tup]
I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the peolpe that signed up for that demonstration walk away thinking “Wow, that was cool. But the next time I go around a gate I’m gonna drive a little faster so I don’t get hit”[sigh]
I don’t think that the problem is in underestimating the damage that would occur if a car is hit, rather the problem is that most people tend to underestimate the speed of the train. I don’t think that a demonstration of this kind can adequately show that.
This was done by Top Gear in the UK, the locomotive hits the car at over 70mph, quite shocking to see how that car is smashed to pieces. of course all this was done in controlled circumstances, and the locomotive was pushed by another locomotive and was not running for the impact.
I applaud the powers that be for conducting this type of demonstration, but as others have stated, it is not going to deter everyone. While just one life saved justifies the demonstration, my cynical opinion of humankind (especially the younger variety) tells me that their feeling of invulnerability will win out, if and when the time comes. Afterall, don’t these types of “accidents” happen only to the other guy? Yeah, right. Makes a good epitaph, doesn’t it?
As long as there is at least one grade crossing, some yahoo will find a way to meet his/her maker there.
I am surprised that they took a chance on a 40 mph derailment. A similar collision was staged near Chaska, MN a few years ago, but it looked like the engine was not exceeding 10-15 mph max.
That’s it. People think they can estimate how fast the train is traveling. That’s what gets someone killed. Thats what I “try” to teach people on our Locomotive simulator. I have pictures of cars and trucks that have gotten hit by trains. But even with all this “teaching” and showing all the risks to people, some will choose not to listen or just go and do what they have been doing. But you are right, people try to estimate the speed of the train.
Three quarters of that vid was a joke. Old people driving into the sea for kicks, the helmut on top of the the helmut, and “wow, thats toast!” The point of the eelow jacket joke was not to miss the real point, seat belts dont save lives, not getting in an accindent in the first place saves lives.
