Grade Crossing Accidents.

[scharnhorst]

that would be darn right creepy thought to not know if you crunched a car or not.

[MR77100]

Here my two near-miss videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfYStYuu ... ature=plcp


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwUIBj75rg

If those are your videos there's no need to try and make them more dramatic than they really are. During my time as a railroaders I saw much closer events than the ones in those videos. Events like the ones in the videos merely cause railroaders to yawn. It's the ones at fifty feet or less at fast speeds that got our attention. I, and other railroaders, have always had problems with railfans who try and make a multiple day occurrence much more than it really is by adding creative wording to the titles of their videos. I don't mean to sound too harsh, but this has always been a pet peeve of mine when fifteen seconds between the vehicle crossing and the train passing is called a close call with complimentary exclamation points while fifty feet of distance or less is what really makes a railroader's hair stand up. Forgive me for speaking bluntly.

Whether 5 feet or 50 feet, these idiots were breaking the law and putting their lives at risk. There is another video clip I have of a kid riding his scooter in front of a train at Marion, Ohio, but it was scrambled.

[Gadfly]

that would be darn right creepy thought to not know if you crunched a car or not.

\\

We knew we didn't hit her. She crossed from left to right. I was sitting in the fireman's seat at the time The engineer looked in the rear view mirror and held up his hands like holding a hank of yarn and said, "If she'd had another coat of paint, we'd have got 'er!" The worst part was, we could see the two kids and a baby seat as she RACED us to the crossing! Fast as she was going, we knew she was gonna go for it. Yes, it is a wierd feeling to watch that, and it also feels helpless because there's nothing one can do. "Look out, looooook out, LOOK O-O-O-OUT!" DAMN! Thing is, a passenger train only takes 15-20 seconds to clear, but drivers think it's forever and will risk death for 15 lousy seconds. Then the family wants to SUE for that person's negligence as if it were the railroad's fault. It's a horrible feeling to hit someone.

GF

[ExCon90]

While looking for something else I ran across an account in an NRHS Bulletin of 1938 about a grade-crossing collision between an automobile and Lehigh Valley Transit. A car, disregarding the flashers, pulled around two others in front of it just in time to get creamed by an interurban, and ended up 500 feet down the right-of-way -- all six passengers were killed. As a result of the accident the PUC required a safety stop at that crossing -- by the INTERURBAN CARS.

[scharnhorst]

that would be darn right creepy thought to not know if you crunched a car or not.

\\

We knew we didn't hit her. She crossed from left to right. I was sitting in the fireman's seat at the time The engineer looked in the rear view mirror and held up his hands like holding a hank of yarn and said, "If she'd had another coat of paint, we'd have got 'er!" The worst part was, we could see the two kids and a baby seat as she RACED us to the crossing! Fast as she was going, we knew she was gonna go for it. Yes, it is a wierd feeling to watch that, and it also feels helpless because there's nothing one can do. "Look out, looooook out, LOOK O-O-O-OUT!" DAMN! Thing is, a passenger train only takes 15-20 seconds to clear, but drivers think it's forever and will risk death for 15 lousy seconds. Then the family wants to SUE for that person's negligence as if it were the railroad's fault. It's a horrible feeling to hit someone.

GF

I remember a few years ago piloting a Sperry car up near Montreal, Quebec and it must have been around 3 or 4 p.m. there were a lot of high school kids walking around I assume they got of school?? We were going around this curve and there were a group of kids walking down the middle of the track. I remember sounding the bell and the horn and the kids keeped walking and not once looked back at us. They must have walked about a mile and a half with us following along at 5 mph before they turned off the tracks and into a back yard. There were also a lot of close calls there too with drivers ignoring the lights as well.

I have also taken a few trips into Eastern Ukraine and in Russia all the grade crossings in the city's are maned with gates, lights, bells and 2 armed Traffic Police guards There job direct traffic as well as radio ahead and give licence plate numbers of those who blow off the crossing signals. The Traffic Police handle all traffic matters, issue tickets, and car inspections.

[Engineer Spike]

I was on a high wide special. We had 1 engine, 2 spacers, the load, and two more spacers. A guy ran the gates on a state highway. How crazy is this? The train would have been by the crossing in seconds.

The funny part was that the railroad cop was right there. One day shortly afterwards, I saw the cop in the yard office. He told me that the driver was so determined to beat the train that he had run a stop sign, failed to use his blinker to indicate the turn, AND ran the gate. The cop said that when he was writing all of those tickets, the passenger in the car told the driver, "Your really F*&^ed now dude!"

[charlie6017]

Awesome............nice to see justice served once in a while! I'm sure he wrote a rather hefty check
for the fines he incurred. Not to mention his certain hike in car insurance........all to beat a train that
would have been by in maybe 20 seconds!!

Charlie

[Ken W2KB]

While looking for something else I ran across an account in an NRHS Bulletin of 1938 about a grade-crossing collision between an automobile and Lehigh Valley Transit. A car, disregarding the flashers, pulled around two others in front of it just in time to get creamed by an interurban, and ended up 500 feet down the right-of-way -- all six passengers were killed. As a result of the accident the PUC required a safety stop at that crossing -- by the INTERURBAN CARS.

Some years ago there was a fatal collision at a grade crossing wiht gates and lights in Bound Brook on the Raritan Valley line. Saw the aftermath from a following train creeping by. NJ Transit still has a slow order eastbound at that crossing, adds a minute or two to the time I guess.

[lstone19]

While looking for something else I ran across an account in an NRHS Bulletin of 1938 about a grade-crossing collision between an automobile and Lehigh Valley Transit. A car, disregarding the flashers, pulled around two others in front of it just in time to get creamed by an interurban, and ended up 500 feet down the right-of-way -- all six passengers were killed. As a result of the accident the PUC required a safety stop at that crossing -- by the INTERURBAN CARS.

That still goes on today. On the Metra Milwaukee West line, all trains, apparently by state regulation, need to slow to 30mph to cross Grand Ave. in Elmwood Park due to drivers being unable to understand where to stop when the gates are down on this shallow-angle crossing. Due to the shallow angle, the gates are set back far from the closest rail and it seems like people panic - they're past the gate when the signals activate so they stop between the gate and the tracks where they are officially fouling the tracks.

[scharnhorst]

sounds like the same issue in Auburn, NY the crossing gates were never moved in when the 2ed track was removed by Penn Central and Conrail wasted no time or money being that the line was down graded to a secondary line that only saw a local once every 1 to 2 weeks. When they sold the line to the Finger Lakes Railway (FGLK) in 1995 the gates still remain where they stand. The city and the Railroad did make in point to put up signs that read DO NOT STOP ON TRACKS being that the Rail line is only a few feet from NYS Route 5 & 20. People still stop where they are not supposed to and get Pissed when the Gates drop down on there cars. All the Railroad crews do is wave when the people get out and point at the downed crossing gates sitting on the car hoods.

[Engineer Spike]

I agree with the Sperry dude, flashing lights in Quebec mean SPEED UP. I say Quebec drivers are Canada's answer to the Masshole. ( Don't get formed up, I used to live in MA).

[drvmusic]

I agree with the Sperry dude, flashing lights in Quebec mean SPEED UP. I say Quebec drivers are Canada's answer to the Masshole. ( Don't get formed up, I used to live in MA).

No worries. I live in MA and agree with you

[locked wheel]

I've had many incidents with auto and pedestrian strikes and near-misses over the years. You can frequently get a real good sense of exactly what the driver is up to during an incident and their thought process as you both approach the crossing, even at 60 mph. One thing I've noticed more than a few times is how a driver will lose a bumper or get spun when easing up to a flashing light crossing without gate protection. Goes like this: driver eases up to see where the train is and looks left; nope, no train this way; keeps easing (into the foul), looks right and gets creamed.

Working the road sure made for some very interesting trips. When folks ask me if I ever hit anything I reply "I've run over just about everything that walks, crawls or rolls on rubber. Hell, I almost hit a hovering helicopter once. The thing you've got to remember is that a train can't stop on a dime, and you'd better hope it's not in your pocket if it ever does!

[ACeInTheHole]

Just straying for a second on the topic but I remember seeing a memo once in a CONRAIL Yard office up in either Syracuse, NY or Massena, NY that stated that employees driving company owned vehicles i.e. trucks and hi/rails were being instructed to make for ditches during bad weather if they were starting to skid on ice or if the employee could not stop for a deer running out in front of them to hit the animal if the driver was unable to slow down. According to the memo it was cheaper to replace a truck and pay for property damage than it was to have someone lose there life in an accident.

why would u turn to avoid deer?? if driver does that, s/he make things worse for her/himself... slam on brake and stay straight ahead! if somene's behind you, dont slam but slow down as much as you can without getting rear-ended or causing the car behind u go into ditch. the insurance would pay for the damnages without jack-up your preimum... if you turn and missed the deer but hit the tree... your preimum GOES UP!!!!!!!!!!!

Once I successfully avoided a deer by swerving. Actually two, in the middle of the night, at 55 miles an hour, by hitting a gap right between them on a reflex so fast (my arms started swerving automatically on the tiniest little movement i picked up on the edge of my low beam) that i had no idea what was happening until I saw the head end of the first one illuminated by the right side headlight, and the behind of the second one, illuminated from the left side headlight, inches from my car's fenders. The guy on the right got especially lucky, i remember my cars headlight was right on him from about a car length away, before just barely missing him. I almost crapped pants on the spot after I had consciously processed what happened.

[charlie6017]

why would u turn to avoid deer??

Without trying to get far off topic, generally, (IMO) it's a better idea to not swerve and hope the deer (or
whatever animal) moves. After 26 years of driving, I have seen way too many worse results for the
driver and others nearby by swerving and missing and hitting something or someone by over-correcting
and losing control.

Just food for thought to keep in mind.

Sorry for getting off-topic, everyone!

Charlie