Why must some people put their lives on the line by trying to beat a train?

Question

I've heard and read so many stories about people attempting to cross train tracks before a train gets there, but the train ends up winning. So my question is, why do people do this?

Answer 1

you get foolled by the optical illusation that the train seems fater way

then it looks and they think oh the trains going slowly I can beat it

I have a safety poem I made up about this it goes

if you see a train remembeer to use your brain and if yiu try to beat the

the train as  it will be a pain to remove your REMAINS  from the train

so remember to use your brain and dont try to beat the train

Answer 2

Because they're stupid and think they can beat a train hauling tons of weight at high speed, as well as pressured by today's nothing-can-wait society.  Law-of-gross-tonnage, train always gets the right-of-way :)

The truly horrifying ones are when a person (pedestrian) walks across the tracks while gates are down (say running late at the station) and there's another train on the other track, not stopping at the station.

Tractor-trailers are always fun to see running a train...I saw a moving van on CNN that the trailer got cut in half (feel sorry for the people who lost everything)...I wouldn't have wanted to be the engineer of that one with all-new coal-cars - I've never heard brakes sound quite like they did in that video.

I've actually had people beep at me for stopping as the lights begin to flash (before the gates are all the way down) - people are so stupid!  

Being a railfan, I even find a place to turn around and be first in line if something comes right after I cross :)

Unrelated but similar and ironic, I hear the NS Operation Lifesaver train hit someone (was a suicide) in Roanoke, VA the night before their presentation.

Answer 3

Because everyone has to make the extra dollar. They think that waiting 1-5 minutes for the train to pass, could earn them more money if they didnt wait. 9/10 they pay the ultimate sacrafice. their lives. In my family, my dad and myself have a combined 30 years on the railroad, in this time My dad has had only 1 hit and luckily they just took the front end off a car. He has had numerous near misses. Me on the other hand, I work in the yard mostly so I dont see as much road action, but we have had trespasser cut across the yard to get places faster and been hit by the train, or if they are lucky, getting caught by a special agent.

Answer 4

They think they can beat the train. They turn out to be wrong. DEAD wrong.

Answer 5

Foolishness plays a great part, but the real reson is ignorance, in most instances.  For example, did you know that:

Most fatalities occur when a train is moving at or less than 30 mph?

Speed of a train is even harder to gage if the train is running parallel to a fence, tree line or other straight objects along side the tracks? (I'm not talking about obscured vision but optical illusion).

If an engineer can even see you as you come into view, even at slow speed, it is too late to stop for you?

Crossing protection is NOT fail-safe? (They have battery back-up and in very remote areas use battery power for primary electrical source, re-charged by solar panels.  But, OTHER conditions can arise that will render them inoperative.)

In a snow storm, the locomotive whistle can become clogged with snow and cease to operate? (Don't count on hearing it.)

An engineer working a full, 30 year career will experience three fatalities? (This is an average.  I know a guy who killed eight teenagers in one swoop, riding in a pleasure van on high school graduation night.  That kind of thing changes a person, forever.)

While you are reading this, somewhere a car just got tagged?

If a pedestrian and too close to a moving train, any metal bands, such as those used on lumber, that are broken (happens alot) dragging on the ground become razor sharp, quickly?  (They will cut you in half as easily as a Samurai's sword.)

Lading or dunnage can be protruding from the side of the train and can smash into you?

We all assume everyone is aware of the danger, but the truth is most are not, believe it or not.  This is why I ask anyone who reads answers in the forum here passes safety tips along, primary of which are:

STOP:  Not always an option, but when you can, do so.

LOOK:  Not a quick glance over the shoulder, but a real look in both directions.

LISTEN:  Turn off the music (you've heard that song before anyway), roll down the window and listen for the train's whistle.

When stopped a grade crossing for a train to pass, stop BACK if you can.  Things (very heavy things) fall off of trains with some regularity.  You can wind up with several tons of stuff in your lap if you don't.

A good safety question, and they always get a star from me.  Here's yours...       and, pass it on, please.

Answer 6

Because most do give a dam, if they live or die!  

Answer 7

Because they think they have enough time to beat the train but misjudge the speed and end up getting smooshed.

Answer 8

because people these days are inpatient and are in a hurry to get somewhere they need to be patient and have time to get where they have to go even when they do have time they act like they have no time