http://break.com/index/semi-truck-tries-to-outrun-train.html
What is it with CN being in the headlines lately? Well on here anyways…lol
This is the third CN mishap in one week’s time, and they say that accidents happen in threes, so hopefully this will be the last one for awhile.
I’ve seen other train hitting something videos, but that one was really something. Hopefully the driver will not make that mistake again.
Well there is another STUPID truck driver.
All he had to do was stay still and be by-passed.
If that incident doesn’t rate a “WHAT WAS HE THINKING?” I don’t know what does.
This was not CN’s mishap!!! This was an idiot driving the truck!! I hope the Judge tears up this clowns drivers license!!!
I find it kind of ironic that if he had just stayed on the first main instead of trying to beat the train, he would have been fine. Nice job deciding which direction to go so you can escape. :rolleyes:
Reviewing the video. Do you think the driver even survived. The drivers side of the cab was torn apart by the train.
I can just hear the engineer screaming, NO, No, No stupid, No.
If the truck driver just cut the wheel some more and backed up and jack knife he would have been clean of both tracks.
When I rode the C.S.S & S.B into work. The day before. A steel hawler pulled out in front of a commuter train running at speed. That day (the next) as we approaced the scene ‘the East access ramp’. It was filled with incident investigaters and lots of police cars with light flashing.
A trucker decide to attempt to out run my train about a 1/2 mile to the West crossing ramp. He broke the gate and stopped just short of the tracks.
Our train was running slow order at that point.
Does anyone know where this happened? A CN doublestack train hit a truck near Vancouver on CP’s double track. I wonder if this is it?
Barry, Regina
It looks to me like he was making a left turn onto the crossing. Assuming that the lights were flashing prior to the gates coming down, he apparently either decided to run the crossing -or- he did not see the flashing lights because he was not lined up with them or because he was distracted from seeing them because he was watching his mirror to make sure his trailer cleared the turn.
It appears as though he first realized he had to stop when he saw the far gate lower in his path. Then his first impulse was to back up and get off the crossing, but he saw the near gate had lowered upon his trailer. So he knew that if he backed up, his cab would break the gate, and apparently he did not want to break it. So he gambled that the best course of action was to go ahead and get through the crossing because he could see that the far gate would not block his exit. Obviously, he did not have enough time, but he may not have realized that because it is easy to underestimate the speed of an approaching train. One might wonder why he did not just stay where he was since he was not on the track with the train, and he would probably have cleared the train. But it is possible that it might not have been that obvious to him which track the train was on. He probably panicked over his predicament, including just the embarrassment of having been caught in such a pickle even if the train missed him.
I would bet that his initial impulse that put him on the crossing with a gate on top of him was not an impulse to beat the train. If he were that careless, I would not expect him to be thwarted by the far gate, which he could have simply run around. And then I would certainly not expect him to exercise the caution to first look behind to make sure nobody was blocking him, then try to back up, then see the gate was blocking him, and then choose not to damage the gate. That is conscientious behavior, not the behavior of someone who would risk everything to
He was making a RIGHT TURN into the grade crossing.
Yes I can just imageine what he was thinking.
GEE if I back up and break the gate.
I will just go forward. The train engineer will stop.
That was the same thinking that killed about 6 people and dammaged about 15 cars in Chicago.
Gee I do not want to lost my placew in traffic. I will stop on the heavy traveled Commuter tracks.
Who care the all the laws and common sence state “DO NOT proceed if can not clear the crossing”.
WE can always blame someone else.
I meant right turn. I based my conclusions only on what I saw in the video. Certainly he was at fault, but I don’t think he entered the crossing because he was trying to beat the train. Instead, I think he made an error in entering the crossing against the flashing lights, either due to distraction or other form of lack of attention. I see no reason to question his intelligence. Even smart people make mistakes.
I am assuming that the driver took a glance at the RR crossing and proceded to make their right turn. Upon doing so, most truckers will watch their trailers when turning, especially making a right hand turn. “Caution, this vehicle makes wide right turns”. When they looked ahead again, the lights were already on and the gates were coming down. Also, the video doesn’t show the far side signal lights so we can’t make an assumption that there was signals facing that traffic. The video also doesn’t show if there was another vehicle behind the truck. When the trucker put the transmission back in 1st gear, the rest is history, along with the tractor and flatbed trailer.
Paul
Is it possible there was a train coming from the other direction on the other track at the same time?
if he had not moved he would not been hit or do somthing even more simple backup.
You know, im pretty its an FRA rule(per a RR employee) that crossing guards need to be down somewhere around 30 seconds before the train hits the crossing no matter the speed. In the video it was only 20 seconds between the time the gates STARTED going down and when the train hit the crossing. Somethin tells me someone may get into a little trouble, unless the rules are different in Canada if this is where it happened.
My dad told me that when he was in college back in the 40’s, he, his girlfriend and two other people were in a car at a grade-crossing waiting for a Monon train to pass. The crossing was guarded only by crossbucks over near Greencastle, IN. They pulled-across and just barely missed getting blasted by a southbound freight that they couldn’t see due to the northbounder that’d just cleared. My dad said he about filled his pants.
He started to back up, but he did want to break the gate behind his cab. By the way, I count 6 seconds from the time the gates were down to the moment of impact. But I suppose the lights start flashing a lot earlier than the activation of the gates.
I would think those right hand turns with an immediate crossing of tracks can be a bit tricky. Not to side with the driver, but that was not a very safe intersection/crossing.
A similar accident occured on teh South Shore about 10 years ago near Portage with a truck that got stranded between the Conrail and South Shore.
ed
To the folks who are trying boost their self esteem by belittling others:
As a college educated mature adult who holds a commercial pilot’s license and happens to drive a tractor-trailer for a living, I have to say that there’s nothing sadder than ignorant individuals stereotyping. I will be the first to tell you that there are some bad truck drivers out there, but anyone who has ridden with me in a truck has always been amazed at the things that folks in cars due to law abiding truck drivers. Grow up.