http://wate.com/2015/03/30/train-collides-with-2-cars-in-west-knoxville/
I live super close to where the incedent took place.
Two lane road, so I wonder where he thought oncoming traffic was going to go when he decided to move over into the other lane at the crossing.
““I was coming over the train tracks and no double yellow lines on the train tracks like I think there should be, and all of a sudden a huge impact hits and I’m in a daze and I don’t know what happened all I’m glad for is that I’m alive and here,””
If he thought there should have been two double yellow lines there, WHY did he not drive as though they were there?
Well the crossing is on a bit of a crest, and given how little the drop off is he could have been hogging the middle lane (common practice here for drivers) and not seen the other driver.
If you look carefully at the video you can see the gate down as the train hits the car. Face it, he was on the wrong side of the road because he was going around the gate.
In other words, his complaint is simply an attempt to avoid being held responsible for the damage–he knew the purpose of the gate, and he made a lame excuse for not stopping.
Did you read the news article? prior to the train’s arrival, the driver had been involved in a head on collision, and the car was disabled on the crossing. Someone went down the tracks to flag the train, but weren’t able to stop the train in time. Apparently, the train came through less than a minute after the collision. Just bad luck that the car was disabled exactly where it was(ON the crossing) and not 50’ earlier or later.
Doug
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on being disabled on the crossing. The collision does appear to have occurred well prior to the arrival of the train.
However, his blaming the accident on the lack of a centerline is pure BS. He doesn’t deserve a pass on that, and I’m not going to give him one. I’m guessing he was planning on passing someone and pulled out when the double yellow line ended. Unfortunately, he appears to have forgotten the other part - make sure the way is clear for your pass.
Location: N 35.97081 W 84.07158
+1[tup]
(and you are not supposed to stripe anything beyond the stop bars in the foul zone, ever … you won’t see that in any MUTCD/AASHTO/AREMA or railroad Manual)
Yes I did read the article. The road is striped. there is no reason to be driving on the left side of the road unless you are going around the lowering gate. The two gates are far enough apart for him to meet another car that just made it through the other gate, head on. That leaves enough time for someone to run up the track. It would be the wildest of coincidences for two cars to meet head on right on the crossing less than a minute before the train arrived.
I stand by my evaluation.
He was obviously not doing what he should have been doing. Either way, he was across the center line. He’s at fault.
He should be extremely thankfull he got out before the train got there, and that the train had slowed considerably based on the brake squeal on the video clip. This could have been much, much worse than it was…
That could explain this crash. Two opposing drivers decided to run around the gate at the same time. Both were driven by the impulse to beat the train, and did not notice each other. This would explain the quoted driver decribing the impact as though it came out of nowhere, in this quote, “all of a sudden a huge impact.”
But all of this depends on when the head-on collision happened and when the train showed up. Has that been established?
This is just me guessing -
He’s young (22), but look at the vehicle he’s driving (a Mercedes).
I suspect he’s either “privileged,” or he’s driving something way above his “station” and is “showing off.”
Hence his comment about the double yellow line. I would opine that he figures that if there’s no double line, he has a right to pass, but as I mentioned before, apparently oncoming traffic isn’t a concern for him.
Summary - he was driving a hot car, passing everything on the road whenever he had a chance. The fact that he had a head-on collision on a railroad crossing was really coincidental.
The justice is that his Mercedes was undoubtedly totalled. The injustice may be that Mommy and Daddy will probably buy him a new one…
What middle lane? There are only two, with double yellow lines dividing them.
I remember reading about 15 or 20 years ago about two drivers who both tried to run the gates and hit head-on. The resulting collision thru both vehicles clear of the tracks, the train never actually striking either vehicle. One or both drivers (I don’t remember for sure) weren’t as lucky. Someone died from the collision.
Jeff
No you’re not entitled to your own set of double yellow lines where you want them to be - just as you’re not entitled to your own version of the facts, either. [D)]
- Paul North.