I think I can, I think I can, I think OH CRAP!Follow

:(

Back in 1999 in the far south suburbs, a truck loaded with steel rods attempted to race the gates at a train crossing and was hit by the City of New Orleans (of the song fame). The driver survived but one of the train cars caught fire and fourteen people died in it between that and impact injuries.

So, you know, don't race/avoid train safety signals.

Edited, Jan 2nd 2014 3:01pm by Jophiel

Twas a fun game. Our town now only has a single crossing of the tracks, which is a serious bummer if it's down for 5-10 minutes or something, there's no other way around.

But racing through town to try and beat the train to the next crossing; ahhh childhood memories...

I've no pity for the driver, if you can manage to get hit by a train, you deserve what you get. The passenger though, I suppose I could feel bad for her, but she was still dumb enough to not get out of the car when a train was coming right at them.

Folks who are used to slow moving freight trains will tend to run around the arms to cross the tracks in front of the train. It's moving slow enough to do this, and the wait if you don't is long. Which is great right up until it's a faster moving passenger train and you get smushed. It's still a stupid thing to do, but there is a reason why people think they can get away with it (cause they usually can).

Obviously not in Cary!

My townhouse is within 75 yards of the track in question, just further up. I watch the trains go by from my deck many times a day. We have an Amtrak station two blocks away, so we get both passenger and freight trains. Having a railroad crossing on my street, I get stuck waiting for trains to pass by all. the. time. It sucks, especially if it's a slow freight and I know that I will be stuck there for a good ten minutes unless I turn around and maze through town.

That said, it's never once crossed my mind to even contemplate attempting to weave through once the guard rails go down. That's just pure stupidity.

A few years ago in NC (not around here though) a woman and her boys were killed by a train when she was at a stop light, pulled her car up behind the next car but was idling on the rails. Before the light turned green, the guard rails went down, horns blowing, and instead of getting herself and her kids out of the car, she tried backing up and pulling forward. But the other cars were so cramped together, she couldn't move enough.

My kids school is next to a train crossing (same track) and since then all parents carpooling make a concerted effort to leave extra space when at the stoplight and stay away from the guards. Stupid it took a family dying for common sense to kick in. Maybe this accident will be a refresher course.

Too bad it never lasts.

I can't speak for elsewhere, but here freight trains vary in speed. I don't know if it has to do with cargo type, amount of cars, combo or something else. There are some freight trains that go at a fairly decent clip. And then there are some that you could power walk faster than, and it's not an exaggeration. Those are usually the ones that have a gazillion cars. By the time it passes by, you could have watched an entire tv show on your phone.

There's some ridiculously long Canadian Northern trains that go through here which are a mile+ long and move slllloooooowwwww. Especially if they hit a municipal area where they have to decrease speed, I'm sure it takes them forever to pick it back up.

I have no idea how fast/slow this one is moving but you can live out the experience of waiting for one of these to pass your crossing:

Yeah, they don't reach that length here, if they were the back would still be at the station by the time the front arrived at the next.

Around here, the traffic lights are tied into the train signals such that when the arms go down the light for the cross street will also turn green (but only in the direction allowing traffic to exit *from* the side the tracks are on). So in the event you should happen to have stopped at the limit line in front of the tracks, the light will turn green for you allowing you to move through the intersection. You're still not supposed to actually stop on the tracks, but in the event someone does anyway it means that they wont get boxed in since the car in front of them can move out of the way.



Yeah. You'd hope. Common sense is not always so, unfortunately.

How very sanctimonious of you. I'm sure the driver and/or family members are not at a lose for the lack of your pity.

Should one be impressed that you've never exceeded the speed limit, sped up to make a yellow/red light, rolled through a stop sign, changed lanes without blinking or any other minor or major driving infraction that could end in disaster?

I know I'd be impressed if someone pulled that off.