Two killed when Amtrak train hits car
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TVRM610
Conductor
These are really piling up this year....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...pyFAqwD9COGI900
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...pyFAqwD9COGI900
zoltan
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2008
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Four loud horn blasts. The emergence of a large locomotive in front of several carriages. The rattles and track noises from said locomotive and carriages.
How the hell hard can it be to notice there's a train coming? I can only assume that there are legions of motorists who simply don't take the risk of trains seriously at all.
Still, it's very tragic. I'm guessing there's a husband somewhere whose life will be completely and utterly wrecked.
How the hell hard can it be to notice there's a train coming? I can only assume that there are legions of motorists who simply don't take the risk of trains seriously at all.
Still, it's very tragic. I'm guessing there's a husband somewhere whose life will be completely and utterly wrecked.
In this report a witness says the warning system never activated.
ALC Rail Writer
Engineer
There's a simple solution to this problem that I'm guessing the community never thought of...
Call the bloody railroad.
TVRM610
Conductor
Caitlyn Holder, who lives about a mile from the crash site, was stopped in a line of cars heading north and waiting to cross the tracks when the accident occurred.
"None of the lights were working. They weren't flashing, which for this spot, is no surprise," she said. "It happens constantly.
Above quoted from newsobserver report...
Why was there a long line of cars stopped if they weren't working? The engineer can see if the lights are working by the way, and while he may not always be able to stop or slow in time, he does need to react to them by at least sounding extra i.e. constant horn blasts.
"None of the lights were working. They weren't flashing, which for this spot, is no surprise," she said. "It happens constantly.
Above quoted from newsobserver report...
Why was there a long line of cars stopped if they weren't working? The engineer can see if the lights are working by the way, and while he may not always be able to stop or slow in time, he does need to react to them by at least sounding extra i.e. constant horn blasts.
PetalumaLoco
Conductor
Trainmans daughter
OBS Chief
Good one, Loco. Something similar to that happened to the CZ we were on last summer. In the middle of an Iowa cornfield (I think it was really soybeans, but that doesn't have the same ring to it) a car drove right into the side of the lead engine. We were traveling 79 mph at the time, so a split second made the difference between the stupid driver getting creamed or being able to walk away. He got lucky this time, but his car was totalled. It happened at a crossing with no signal, and he said he drove across the tracks every morning and had never seen a train there. However, I wonder how a man can miss noticing something a huge as a train bearing down on him blowing its horn loudly enough to wake the dead.
sunchaser
Conductor
I can almost hear his explanation to the officer-" But Officer, there I was, minding my own business driving my car, and this TRAIN JUMPED OUT IN FRONT OF ME, and I couldn't avoid it, SO I HIT IT!" :lol:
It always amazes me when people do stuff like this when the weather's fine, the sun is out, & nothing is blocking their view......
Phila 30th St
Service Attendant
Seems like we're seeing one of these stories a week. I feel awful for the 5 year old kid...his Mom was an idiot and he'll never have a chance to grow up not like her.
The 5-year-old was also killed. A 3-month-old baby girl survived.
MrEd
Conductor
follow up on story:
Authorities said a North Carolina woman was talking on her cell phone when she drove through a railroad crossing into the path of an Amtrak train last week.
The Highway Patrol determined warning lights and bells and the crossing gate functioned properly before the Dec. 22 crash that killed a mother and her 5-year-old son.
The Highway Patrol said witnesses reported seeing 26-year-old Erin Lindsay-Calkins using her phone as she drove toward the railroad crossing near Efland in Orange County.
Bystanders pulled her 4-month-old daughter out of a car seat in the vehicle's twisted metal.
Authorities said a North Carolina woman was talking on her cell phone when she drove through a railroad crossing into the path of an Amtrak train last week.
The Highway Patrol determined warning lights and bells and the crossing gate functioned properly before the Dec. 22 crash that killed a mother and her 5-year-old son.
The Highway Patrol said witnesses reported seeing 26-year-old Erin Lindsay-Calkins using her phone as she drove toward the railroad crossing near Efland in Orange County.
Bystanders pulled her 4-month-old daughter out of a car seat in the vehicle's twisted metal.
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
More reason to ban those things.
amtrakwolverine
Engineer
i agree pull over and park somewhere if its that important. i know here in michigan up in shelby TWP you cannot eat drink talk on your phone etc while driving.
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
My sympathy to the Conductor and Engineer of the Amtrak train, as well as to the police and others who were hurt or upset by this woman's idiocy. I offer her my most sincere thanks for removing herself from the gene pool.
P
Paul
Guest
Unfortunately, the old expression "You can't legislate morality" may apply here. And I definitely believe using a cell phone while driving is a moral issue.
Ryan
Court Jester
There's nothing moral about it at all. It's a documented fact that it distracts you and impairs your ability to drive, which is plenty of reason to ban it.
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Its a public safety issue. Period. We have enough bad drivers crashing into things for no good reason without having cellphones around to increase the number.
I'm sure if you or someone you cared about was hurt or killed because some other driver crashed into them as a result of using a cellphone, you'd have a somewhat different opinion.
How does it happen? Well, among other things...
1. Whistle ban. Increases at-grade accidents by about 25%.
2. Mis-judgment of speed by motorists trying to "beat" the train to the crossing. Objects that large appear to be moving slower than they really are, just as a low-flying passenger jet appears to be moving just 30 or 40 MPH crossing the airport fence when really its moving more like 100 mph.
3. Lack of visibility of the train at night. Don't laugh. About 25% of at-grade accidents are where the car broadsides the train. Big, dark objects absorb light. I once had the experience of coming upon a "malfunctioning" flashing light signal at very rural highway in Arizona. It was a short-line railroad, rarely used, and an empty road. New moon. I dutifully stopped at the crossing because I'm a goody goody. Just as the car stopped, I realized that the crossing was occupied by a freight train, there was just a glint or two of metal that attracted my attention. Had I been a little more tired, had a beer or two, or been just a tiny bit more anti-social, it would have been curtains.
4. Happenstance. Local tourist train (at a whistle ban crossing) nailed a lady returning from a garage sale with unusually large objects in her car that blocked her view. It was a Rangerover, and mildly dented by the train.
1. Whistle ban. Increases at-grade accidents by about 25%.
2. Mis-judgment of speed by motorists trying to "beat" the train to the crossing. Objects that large appear to be moving slower than they really are, just as a low-flying passenger jet appears to be moving just 30 or 40 MPH crossing the airport fence when really its moving more like 100 mph.
3. Lack of visibility of the train at night. Don't laugh. About 25% of at-grade accidents are where the car broadsides the train. Big, dark objects absorb light. I once had the experience of coming upon a "malfunctioning" flashing light signal at very rural highway in Arizona. It was a short-line railroad, rarely used, and an empty road. New moon. I dutifully stopped at the crossing because I'm a goody goody. Just as the car stopped, I realized that the crossing was occupied by a freight train, there was just a glint or two of metal that attracted my attention. Had I been a little more tired, had a beer or two, or been just a tiny bit more anti-social, it would have been curtains.
4. Happenstance. Local tourist train (at a whistle ban crossing) nailed a lady returning from a garage sale with unusually large objects in her car that blocked her view. It was a Rangerover, and mildly dented by the train.
It's for this reason that the FRA is requiring all rail cars to have reflective tape on the sides of the cars. Unfortunately they gave the RR's several years to comply with that requirement, so many cars still haven't been rotated into a shop to have said tape applied.
Don't recall off the top of my head what year they are required to be in full compliance.
wayman
Engineer
Whistle bans are un-enforceable. FRA regs are national laws which override municipal laws. All trains should feel free to ignore whistle bans, but apparently some don't, which is unfortunate if it increases accidents by this much.
George Harris
Engineer
The uneforcable ones are GONE.
There is a method of achieving a whistle ban under current FRA rules. This has been done in several places. I do not recall the details right now, but it can be fairly expensive to achieve. Does not stop the idiots in the area from pushing for them and ultimately getting some of their locaa govenments to pay for them
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
An engineer can still sound their horn if they feel there is a safety reason to do so, however.
That is just not true. I wrote a whole explanation as to why in a post when this topic came up months ago. This post can be found here.
...and as GML said an engineer can still sound the horn if they feel there is a safety reason to do so.
PaulM
Engineer
I doubt it. When I say it is a moral issue, I mean using a cell phone when driving is immoral, as in sin and the damnation. Or maybe I should have said instead of "You can't legislate morality", "You can't legislate a higher IQ".
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