ANother idiot caught on tape, this ones a real prize winner, or is that weiner!
This truck driver has already received his full allotment of scorn from this forum in a previous thread. In my opinion, this had nothing to do with a lack of intelligence on the part of the driver.
Not sure how you can make a judgment about the driver based on what you can see in this video. He was hung up in the crossing and YOU have absolutely no idea what was behind him. For all you know he may have crushed a family car if he attempted to back up. Must be nice to be a typical know-it-all railfan who never makes mistakes but views the rest of the world as fools.
Not exactly sure who you are talking to, but I agree with you 100%.
Your title sums it up.
Though to be fair, it does look like he turned off a parallel road and had no place to go.
Guess if by “Know it all” you mean someone who remembered their driving instructors stearn warnings to “never ever stop on the tracks” back when they were in high school 30 years ago…yep, guess thats me allright.
Now lets see, usually the lights on almost 100% of the crosings I’ve seen, go on several seconds before the gates come down so it looks like he entered the crossing after or right when the lights had activated, once he entered the crossing and noticed the gates were also dropping why didnt he proceed thru? there was nothing blocking apparent in front of him, he would have been completly clear of the crossing by the time the train arrives if he hadnt stopped and hestited for several moments.
You can see after he enters and stops, hesitates then tries to back up but fouls the already lowered gate (thats looks in the video to be why he didnt keep backing up) hesitates again, so instead of just waiting it out where he was clear of the track the approaching train was on, he instead tries to get across in a vehicle type not known for great rates of acceleration, he got creamed on the rear axles for it. I see several errors of judgement on several levels…if anyone else cant see them for what they are, thats not my concern.
But the basic fact is, as my old driving instructor Mr McKee said, once you enter a crossing zone, DONT STOP, even if the lights and the gates activate after you’ve entered, keep going because you can get across before the train arrives, they’re timed that way. And NEVER enter into a crossing if the other side is blocked by traffic or a red light. Wait on the other side. Out here several people get hit each year because they cluelessly stop right on the tracks waiting for a traffic signal regardless of how many “Dont Stop on the Tracks” signs are posted and or “Do Not Stop - Keep Clear” warnings are painted on the pavement?
I don’t think your analogy of the rule to not stop on the tracks applies to this incident. The rule pertains to stopping on the tracks when the crossing is clear as in the case of slow traffic proceeding over a crossing. And the principle is associated with the rule to not enter a crossing in traffic if there is not room to pass over it and get into the clear on the opposite side. This truck driver stopped on the crossing because the gate came down in front of him. His sin was entering the crossing with the signals activated, assuming they were.
Here is what I see in the video:
- The truck enters the crossing while the gates are up.
Just looks like a bad thing all the way around. I’ve seen this video before. Amusingly, I saw another one listed on the side as “horrible train crash, must watch”. When I realised it was one of my local trains, an NJTransit set with a PL42, I had to check it out. Sure enough, nothing happens, but the comments are amusing if not a little derogatory.
Even if he knew that the train was on the far track, maybe he was also aware of the possibility of a second train approaching on the near track.
Hey Bucyrus,
I wasn’t referring to you. You echoed my own sentiments.
I just get tired of these holier-than-thou types who feel qualified to comment on everything that has anything to do with railroads. The guy who started this thread wasn’t there but has no problem calling the truck driver an idiot. As I said earlier, it must be nice to know everything and NEVER make a mistake. Point of fact is we don’t even know if the trucker made a mistake. I’m around the tracks way more than most people and I’ve seen plenty of times when the gates hang people up (Especially true in the case of semis) through no fault of their own. Had he broken the gate to get across the tracks the person who started this thread probably would have been up in arms over that. Sometimes you just can’t win.
Interesting, I guess I was the only one who noticed that the gates came down over only ONE lane, leaving the other clear for the truck to proceed, and BTW a broken gate is a far better decision than a broken truck…and far easier to repair.
Seams like the only one having rather self-righteous attitude about this whole thing isnt me…I just posted yet another in a long string of crossing accidents caught on tape, and I posted my reasonings for the poor decision making that lead to this accident. I’m not the one here picking a fight by name calling, and no, I wont bite. Takes bigger bait than that to rouse this old lion…
You are correct in your observation that he could have gone across without breaking the far gate, as he ultimately did just before getting hit by the train. So I will correct my observation that he hesitated because he did not want to break that gate. Perhaps he aborted his backup escape because of a reluctance to break the gate behind him, but it may have been due to other reasons such as seeing that a vehicle was blocking him behind.
But he did decide not to cross initially once he saw the far gate coming down and/or saw the train, even though he could have cleared the far gate. So I still conclude that he most likely entered the crossing without realizing that a train was approaching and the crossing warning had been activated. His first reaction was to back into the clear, but he found that move unacceptable, and then he gambled on a desperate move to escape going forward. It is not evident why he did not stay in the clear of the train even though he was fouling the first track.
Or perhaps there was a train in the clear of the crossing parked on the track the truck was stopped on, and when the gates came down, he panicked and his focused on the parked train and thus decided to try to get out of its way, and then when he started across the second track, the other train appeared from ‘behind’ the stopped train.
Or perhaps he completely misjudged the speed of the approaching train (it certainly was moving right along).
It looked like it was a nice, privately-owned tractor, not the sort of vehicle one would normally take many chances with, as I understand that they can cost upwards of $150K (nicely equipped).