Truck VS, Train.Have you ever see. such a bonehead ?

Question

If you driving a 18 wheeler, and you are stoped because gates come down 1) Do youe bite youe nails, and wait it out? 2) backup, and find a diffrent way around? 3) Floor it at 1 mph across, and hope you make it to the other side? Check out this interesting video. http://www.bonehead.oddballs.com/todays_bonehead.html

Answer 1

I would just like to add another comment.  Buffalo Bob is right about the engineer hitting the emergency brakes.  Each locomotive is 72 feet long and each of the intermodal cars are 80 feet long.  Count how many cars go by and you can see how long it took to stop.  I would estimate it went another 1000 feet at the end of the video.

Answer 2

I think if I was driving the truck I would have stayed put. There might have been enough clearance for the train to pass the truck within inches of the truck. I know the train would have smashed my truck pretty badly and the truck driver really had no choice but to go forward because the trailer would be farther in the street and blocking traffic. The gates were not down, they were up. I usually cross the tracks if the gate is up. You cant blame the truck driver for doing that because the gates came down and he had no where to go but forward. I think you need to put yourself in the trucker's point of view. I think you are the bone head for asking this question.

Answer 3

Your attitude about this accident is really cliche. Whenever there's an accident between a train and an automobile, the knee jerk reaction is to call the driver an idiot.

If you look closely at the video, you can see that he was negotiating a tight turn in what looks like an industrial area. He was probably dividing his attention between his trailer, his steering wheel, and the road ahead of him. He stopped when he saw the gates coming down, but he was already on one track. He starts to back up, but the gate had already come down behind the cab, and for all we know, another vehicle may have pulled up behind him. Under stressful circumstances, people make bad decisions. Instead of coldly calling him a bonehead, maybe you should offer some compassion.

Answer 4

omg! i hope the driver wasn't hurt! i agree with buffalo bob .. they shoulda stayed where they were .. don't look like they would of got hit where they were sittin' .. especially after they backed up a bit. still that was an awesome video to see just because it shows people that trains are nothin' to mess with .. or get in front of for sure!

like i said .. i really hope they wasn't hurt .. but i bet they pooped their pants for sure on that deal! ; )

Answer 5

If I would have crossed a set of railroad tracks while I was in driver training the way this driver did, I would have been shot, stabbed, hung and drowned!  We were taught to always, ALWAYS respect railroad crossings!  This accident came right out of this driver's pocket - it looks like he was an owner-operator, judging from the appearance of his tractor.  Another thing to take into account is that these trucking dispatchers run these poor drivers like they are machines - consequently, they get tired and their judgment goes to c**p.  Also, the price of fuel nowadays has these guys running like maniacs just to turn a profit - which is especially true if this driver is an owner-operator.  This also leads to fatigue and impaired judgment.  

Answer 6

i wait for the train to pass, anyone who doesnt is an idiot of the highest caliber.

Answer 7

This is a case of panic due to lack of education.

I did examin the video closely and several times as suggested above.

The second track was a non-issue as it itself was fouled by some thing large, that the crossing gate comes down behind, so it wouldn't be going out on a limb to say the train was recognizably not running on that track.  Obviously the driver didn't put two and two together here.  

In my opinion losing focus due to panic precipitated the ill advised move ahead.  The more crucial point is, "What can we learn from watching this video?"

1.  Crossing gates are of break-away design.  You may have to re-paint your car, but drive right through them if you must to CLEAR the crossing, even if you have to go into the on coming lane to do so.  As a rule of thumb, once the gates activate, that train is going to be on the crossing in NO MORE than 15 seconds.  Again, this number is a safety margin only and some trains may take a little longer to reach the grossing.  But you won't know which, so, you have 15 seconds to do something.

2.  Depicted is an excellent trap to be found in many, many places across the country.  You have a road way running right next to the railroad, with insufficient distance to clear more than an auto or two, let alone a big rig, between the tracks and traffic on the roadway.  Usually, the highway intersection is controlled by signal.  What happens most often in these situations is, the driver of a vehicle will pull across the tracks, be stopped by a red light before clearing, and get stuck.  Then the train arrives and you have a big a problem on your hands.  This is usually how trucks get tagged and sometimes how automobiles get tagged.  They often get on the tracks before a train activates the crossing protection.  The lesson?  NEVER pull onto ANY tracks unless there is enough room on the other side to allow the vehicle your driving, whatever it is, to clear the tracks before being stopped.

3.  The footage appears to be in real time.  Did you notice how the train just kept moving right along?  The clip ended before the train got stopped.  What does that tell us?  The engineer most likely put the train into emergency before contact was made, and it made 0 difference.  I’ll say it again:  If an engineer can see you (even if not on a high speed intermodal train depicted in the footage) at nearly any speed, it is too late to stop for you.  So, when crossing tracks when necessary as a pedestrian or a motorist, your life is in YOUR hands and no one else’s.

If informed and not scared sh***less, the driver may have stayed put, which in this particular case was the thing to do.

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN.  We hear the words time after time.  Stopping is not usually an option but all can look (a real look — a glance can get you killed) and roll down the window and turn off the music to listen. It is the ONLY way to cross ANY track with any reasonable expectation of completing the trip alive.  

I’ll add only this: FOCUS.  The driver of the big rig, if not panicked, likely may have noticed which track the train was actually traveling on.  People do panic when they get in close proximity to the gates when they activate.

Finally, we see grossing protection operating properly.  They DO NOT always do so.  They have battery back up for power failure, but other conditions can arrise that will render them inoperative.  NEVER trust them.  That is why we all have to STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and FOCUS.

Good stuff, ziggie.  Definitely rates a star...