OK this one's for Phil (CGAllery) - more train wrecks

[LCHIEN]

This appeared in the news, more stupidity with trains, so in keeping with Phil's assessment that I only post about train wrecks in Houston:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/kprc/2007082...NHWevi7wYE1vAI

Three teens tied to beat a train crossing where the arms were down and the lights flashing. The train hit them and carried the car 2000 feet (about .4 miles). All three were killed but the passengers on the Amtrak train did not feel a thing. (no contest).

The train engineer braked but still carried them 2000 feet, then he backed up but the car was welded to the train and he carried them 150 backwards before he got out and hit them with a fire extiguisher.

[JR]

and, taking the bait...

Apart from the obvious foolishness of the driver, some other things come to mind.

What bad luck to pull that stunt in front of the one Amtrak train per day going down that line.

70 MPH speed limit for the train? In flipping Texas, the biggest, flattest piece or real estate on the planet? In the past 12 months I have travelled on trains in Germany and Korea at speeds of 275-295 KPH. These densely populated, hilly countries manage to have safe high-speed transit between their city centers and airports, while we're dawdling accross the the Lone Star State staring at the piney woods! Sheesh.

Four hours delay for the passengers who "had no idea what had happened". No disrespect to those kids, but they coulda stood around staring at that wreck for a week and they wouldn't have come back alive. Why not snap a few photos, clear the wreck, and let those people move on?

JR

[ragswl4]

Obviuosly Amtrak did not make the barrier arms strong enough and therefore they must be at fault!

[cgallery]

I was just kidding but OMG!

I couldn't honestly remember the last time I heard of an auto/train collision in Wisconsin. I did a simple, non-scientific news.google.com search and found approx. three or four hits when searching for both "milwaukee train collision" and "wisconsin train collision" (expect crossover between the two).

So I did "houston train collision" and found 87!

[LCHIEN]

...
So I did "houston train collision" and found 87!

-----> ROTFL

Doin' my part to try and keep that number below 100.

[LinuxRandal]

From the connection I have to the railroad lawsuits, this one they would generally NOT be found at fault.

Liability is generally found due to two things. Ones actions, or ones inactions. If this is a know problem intersection, and you get some very empathetic plaintiffs on the stand, they may find fault with the railroad if the conductor doesn't start breaking when they see the vehicle coming and not slowing down.

The odds (IMHO) in this case, is 99.7% that the train will not be seen at fault.

[LCHIEN]

More in the news about this incident:

"All three of the teenagers were good kids who stayed out of trouble," Allred said. "Those boys are like my own grandkids, really."

None of the teens had a driver's license, authorities said Thursday.

"If they had waited about 8 seconds, the train probably would have passed them. It was very short," Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Thomas said. "When people look down the tracks, they think they have plenty of time. But they don't. At that speed, a train is moving forward about 80 feet each second."

I guess the family friend who said they stayed out of trouble was correct - they just never got caught, none of them had a driver's license. They should have been in trouble for violating the law.

[RodKirby]

We've had a string of these in our (Oz) State over the last year.

"It's all the Stae Government's fault" - 4 of these have been 18 wheelers ignoring flashing lights and not wanting to slow down (country roads, no boom gates)!

You have to feel for the train drivers

[Thalermade]

Embarrassing but true: Text-messager hit by train

- A man walking across the Township Avenue railroad crossing was struck and thrown 50 feet by a Norfolk Southern train this morning.A witnesss, Mike Billups, of Deer Park said the man was text-messaging on his cell phone at the crossing just before the accident, which occurred about 10 a.m.


I used to drive on this street when I needed to bypass some rush hour traffic jams out of downtown Cincinnati.
Years ago when the Sony Walkman was new, several folks were hit and killed while listening when walking down railroad tracks.

Russ

[Pappy]

I was young but remember my parents and siblings in the living room when my Mother told us that one of her brothers was drinking and tried to beat a train at a rural crossing. The train hit the passenger side of the car. He only had minor injuries, but both of Mother's younger sisters wire in the car with him. Joyce, 16, was in the front passenger seat and was killed. Bea was in the back seat and survived but spent several weeks in the hospital.

50+ years later Bea still suffers from the memories, Clyde never suffered enough or showed any real remorse. As good a Christian woman as my Mother was, I don't think she ever forgave him.

[jackellis]

On Thursday, an elderly woman and her husband walked around the crossing gates in a community not far from here. Husband made it. Wife did not.

There is one big difference between crossings here and in Europe. Most of our crossings are at grade level. In Europe, most of them are either above or below grade level. Many fewer crossing gates and fewer places to walk across.