Builder hits Amazong van

Turns out this is a few years old but I haven't seen this video yet. Nuts.

November 2021, according to Cedar News.
https://cedarnews.net/task/breakingnews ... rak-train/

Fox News found a local report at the time (shocking for other reasons):
https://www.wisn.com/article/amazon-del ... d/38239454

IXONIA, Wis. —

An Amazon delivery driver said he's still in shock after an Amtrak train slammed into his truck, cutting it in half Wednesday.

"Yeah, it just, boom," Amazon driver Alexander Evans said.

It happened on River Valley Road in Ixonia in Jefferson County.

"What did you feel and hear when that train hit your truck?" WISN 12's Terry Sater asked him.

"Just air and the pressure. I felt the airbags. I didn't know what to feel, to be honest with you," Evans said.

The Milwaukee husband and father of two little girls posted photos of the wreckage on his Facebook page.

He traced his route in red on a map, showing how the road parallels the track before the crossing, limiting a driver's view of the tracks.

"I just tried. I made a look as I was going down the hill to swerve, and I didn't see anything. He was on my left side," Evans said.

Evans said he's deaf in his left ear and didn't hear the horn at first.

I looked at it off Google Maps Sat View and... there's practically nothing there.

I just looked at it, too. There are stop signs at the crossing which means you have to come to a complete stop first. Then look down the tracks. They are wide open for miles.

I have the feeling this guy tapped the brakes as his stop, then kept rolling. From the video he clearly did not look at all in the direction of the train.

Tadman wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 12:32 pm I just looked at it, too. There are stop signs at the crossing which means you have to come to a complete stop first. Then look down the tracks. They are wide open for miles.

I have the feeling this guy tapped the brakes as his stop, then kept rolling. From the video he clearly did not look at all in the direction of the train.

Likely, because it was an Amazon van and there's pressure to deliver everything at once. The chance of the crash happening decreases with proper cross guards going down.

Still, glad he escaped.

How many times had he crossed that grade crossing before this accident? if more than 3 a learned response now is in effect to the bad. We had a conditioned response here the other day however, he had enough presence of mind to break the gate.

west point wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 5:14 pm How many times had he crossed that grade crossing before this accident?

Probalby not many, Amazon does not have routes and drivers assigned. We get a different guy every day. They drive all over my grass and my neighbors, to the point where we bought a dozen "stay off grass" signs on amazon and planted them all over. My neighbor sends in a claim for hundreds of dollars a month which they pay.

The drivers are probably paid by the mile or the package, and thus are in a rush to get their quit done. This used to be more prevalent in railroading (switch job X has to visit these five sidings every day then go home) but they've scaled back for safety reasons.

TD - This one should be titled "SLAMazon "

After watching this video I think that the Amazon van driver does not actually realize how lucky he was...
He mentioned being deaf in one of his ears and not hearing the train bearing down on his vehicle...
For that reason I am now thinking of the Emerson, Lake and Palmer song "Lucky Man"...

He sounded more concerned about the Amazon goods that he was to deliver and about keeping
his job instead of being thankful that he survived this collision with little or no physical injury...

Sometimes you have to keep priorities straight when you are lucky just to be alive...MACTRAXX

Tadman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2024 9:00 am Probalby not many, Amazon does not have routes and drivers assigned. We get a different guy every day. They drive all over my grass and my neighbors, to the point where we bought a dozen "stay off grass" signs on amazon and planted them all over. My neighbor sends in a claim for hundreds of dollars a month which they pay.

The drivers are probably paid by the mile or the package, and thus are in a rush to get their quit done. This used to be more prevalent in railroading (switch job X has to visit these five sidings every day then go home) but they've scaled back for safety reasons.

MACTRAXX wrote:TD - This one should be titled "SLAMazon "

After watching this video I think that the Amazon van driver does not actually realize how lucky he was...
He mentioned being deaf in one of his ears and not hearing the train bearing down on his vehicle...
For that reason I am now thinking of the Emerson, Lake and Palmer song "Lucky Man"...

He sounded more concerned about the Amazon goods that he was to deliver and about keeping
his job instead of being thankful that he survived this collision with little or no physical injury...

Sometimes you have to keep priorities straight when you are lucky just to be alive...MACTRAXX

This jives with what has happened in past years, especially with holiday shopping and Amazon's "Flex Delivery" system -- a driver with a smart phone comes up, activates the Flex app, they load up their vehicle and he's told to deliver all the packages due YESTERDAY. It leads to some dangerous work.

Tadman wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 12:32 pm I just looked at it, too. There are stop signs at the crossing which means you have to come to a complete stop first. Then look down the tracks. They are wide open for miles.

I have the feeling this guy tapped the brakes as his stop, then kept rolling. From the video he clearly did not look at all in the direction of the train.

If you look at the drawing he made, it looks like he was coming out of a driveway for a house that's directly adjacent to the tracks. Based on where the stop sign is on the road (8083 River Valley Rd), it's probably not even visible when you come out of the driveway.

Makes you wonder if the property owner could be held liable here.

lensovet wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 1:20 am If you look at the drawing he made, it looks like he was coming out of a driveway for a house that's directly adjacent to the tracks. Based on where the stop sign is on the road (8083 River Valley Rd), it's probably not even visible when you come out of the driveway.

Makes you wonder if the property owner could be held liable here.

I just looked at this in Google Maps again. Nah, there should be another stop sign there. That's too close to being a three-way. Might as well be one (besides my usual grumbles about single track lines and lack of protection).