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Apparently, some truckers didn't hear about the collision up in Maine
By adamg on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 9:45am
Commuting UHub correspondent Banshee took this picture this morning and filed this report:
This truck driver nearly ruined his day and that of hundreds of commuters on the Middleboro line this AM as he apparently thought briefly about beating the gates at a grade crossing in the Randolph area. I guess the fiery truck death in Berwick, Maine earlier this week didn't make the impact I'd hoped with regards to grade crossing safety! Luckily it was only a 5-8 minute delay as we recharged the airbrakes instead of a 5+ hour delay for accident reconstruction!
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Comments
Wakefield
We lost a gate in Wakefield, too. I guess it must be something in the air.
Saw that too!
Going past Wakefield Station last night I saw one of the gates at Albion St got mangled and they were trying to repair it.
Before I saw this was on the Middleboro Line, that's where I thought this was.
A truck takes out one of the gates
on Albion Street an average of once or twice a month. In 20+ years of living in Wakefield, I've personally witnessed a number of these incidents.
Most traffic taking the right turn from North Ave to Albion sees the light for through traffic change to green and doesn't notice (or just ignores) the red arrow for the right turn. For large trucks, this is excerbated by the fact they have to take a wide right turn onto Albion to avoid striking the sidewalk.
The damage normally occurs from the decending crossing gate striking the truck trailer after the truck cab is already across the tracks.
And, yes, I did see last night's damage as well. Traffic on eastbound Albion (coming from Stoneham) was backed up almost to Cedar Street (about 1/2 mile from the crossing) at one point.
Quote:The damage normally
Is there anything the truck driver can do to avoid such an accident? From his point of view, the crossing is clear since the gate is still up when he reaches it.
Stop Line!
There is something called a STOP LINE - it shows where you need to have your front bumper if you cannot completely clear the tracks. Said stop line being under the truck cab in this photo ...
I have been horn blasted for observing this concept before, because it seems to be beyond the thin road rule skills of the typical ambient masshole to leave any street, roadway, or railway clear. If you cannot COMPLETELY clear the tracks, you stay behind that line until you can. Having been raised in areas where trains typically run at 90MPH and are 200+ cars long, they can suck my bumper - I'm not crossing that line until I can clear.
The trucker in the photo? He clearly doesn't get that basic driving concept - he was probably right up to the bumper of the car in front of him, which would also have been blocking the tracks in stopped traffic.
Never mind that there was a near hit in West Medford a few years ago involving a Downeaster train, a garbage truck, and a dunkin donuts. Funny to think about, but it would have been ugly had a dispatcher not noticed the idiot trucker gridlocked on the tracks and radioed the train before it was too late.
While you are correct...
...that wasn't the question he was asking about. I'm kind of curious too: if the truck has already entered and the head-end has passed the tracks, and then the crossing gate goes down, how can he avoid having it hit the trailer?
Or for that matter, avoid hitting the gate when the truck driver has already committed to crossing. Both the truck and the train have (mentally) reserved the crossing, but there is a gray area due to transit time.
Presumably the lights should be flashing before the gates come down, but I've seen the gates come down without any forewarning. On my bike, I can stop short. On a truck, I have no idea.
No, it is the answer to the problem
You do not cross that line until you can entirely clear the tracks.
Period.
That is the answer.
You don't do it.
It is not a "transit time" issue - the gate drop is timed for that. Had that truck been moving at any speed, he would have sheared off the arm. Had he stopped behind the stop line, no problem.
I wasn't talking about the
I wasn't talking about that truck, who clearly wasn't doing the right thing. I'm talking about someone who already entered the track area when the crossing activates. The gates come down quickly. I don't think a truck could necessarily get out of the way fast enough to avoid contact, which is why gates do get sheared off occasionally.
As far as my bike, I figure it's only a matter of time before I get caught in the middle. I already have the situation where a stoplight is green when I enter, and red before I can finish crossing the intersection. Recently, I came to a crossing where it activated when I was less than a meter from the gates. That was enough time to stop because I move relatively slowly on a bike (especially over the embankment). However, another few seconds, and I would have already entered. I don't know then... maybe stop and turn back, or just peddle faster and duck. The gates are definitely not timed for cyclists. Personally, I look both ways so I know anyway.
While I can't say I am
While I can't say I am familiar with that particular level crossing, the lights typically start flashing well before the gate comes down. At that point you are NOT to go. The second those lights start blinking you are supposed to come to a screeching halt at the designated crossing's stop line, even if that means you get rear-ended. But people nonetheless always try to race it, the same way they race through yellow lights changing to red. Never mind that the typical train crossing delay in the northeast (especially with commuter trains over long haul freight) is a few minutes at most.
About five seconds is the typical delay time
between when the lights begin flashing and the gates start to come down.
And you are right about excessive wait times between when the gates are fully down and the train arrives. At most of the crossings between Reading and Melrose, it can be over a minute or more. I suspect this delay is a bigger factor in people "running the gate" than the actual time it takes the train to pass the crossing once it reaches it.
Now if you want to experience some really long delays in waiting for trains to pass, go to Roanoke, Virginia. A 150 car coal train is an impressive sight to watch (at least in my eyes), but at 20 mph, can take a long time to clear the street.
Where are you biking???
I have NEVER encountered a situation as you describe. Either you are the worlds slowest cyclist, AND the gates don't factor in pedestrian transit time, or there is something very strange going on with a single crossing.
I have cycled all over the Boston area, with more frequent forays north and west, and I have never encountered the situation you describe - where there isn't time to get across on a bike. I've also cycled on the west coast in an area that is thick with rail crossings and even automated shuttle locomotives and NEVER had the problem you describe. That's with my cautious aversion to rail crossings factored in!
If the crossing gates are so fast you cant get past on a bike REPORT IT. It sounds like this is a single aberrant crossing. Otherwise, I'm beginning to think that you are inattentive or exaggerating because this isn't what I've known all over the area, in other areas - and it isn't the way they are designed.
T- TRAGEDY
If the truck struck the train there would have been a horrible accident is anyone investgating this near collision?
Likely local PD and State Police
Commercial Enforcement are investigating. At the very least, the trucker is probably out of a job (company safety officers don't like things like this) and is facing suspension of his commercial driver's license for a period.
At North Ave and Albion St in Wakefield, there's
a RED right arrow, which goes on at least ten seconds before the crossing lights start to flash. After that, there's at least another five seconds before the gate starts to come down.
So Billy Big Rigger (trucking's version of the Masshole driver) would have had plenty of warning in time to stop before the gate hit his trailer if he wanted to.