by scharnhorst
that would be darn right creepy thought to not know if you crunched a car or not.
no matter the weather or the country I'll still be trackside!
Railroad Forums
Moderator: Robert Paniagua
EMDSD40-2 wrote: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.MR77100 wrote:Here my two near-miss videos: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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfYStYuu ... ature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwUIBj75rg
scharnhorst wrote:that would be darn right creepy thought to not know if you crunched a car or not.\\
Gadfly wrote:scharnhorst wrote: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 wrote: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.
ExCon90 wrote: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.
Engineer Spike wrote: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
sd80mac wrote: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.scharnhorst wrote: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!!!!!!!!!!!
beanbag wrote: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