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Train vs. Masshole's car: Car loses
By adamg on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 4:06pm
Channel 4 reports that an alleged Masshole who drove around a train-crossing gate managed to get out of his car when it got stuck just before an MBTA commuter train plowed into it in Abington this afternoon. Nobody on the train was hurt, but passengers on one inbound train had to be put on a bus to Braintree as crews cleaned up the resulting mess.
The Patriot Ledger reports the driver "became distracted" and didn't see the gate coming down until it was too late.
Free tagging:
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Comments
That's on my line, I'll
That's on my line, I'll update if there's any delays on my ride home tonight.
No problems or delays. Went
No problems or delays. Went right by the scene, and it seemed to be fine.
The train was blowing it's whistle obnoxiously loud and constantly almost the whole ride from Braintree to Abington though.
Is he the MLK of Train Wrecks?
It wasn't blatant masshole stupidity, it was civil disobedience against oppressive things that get in his way when he is driving!
Maybe Braude started a movment?
I give it less than a week...
...before this driver guy files suit against the MBTA/CTX/whomever for not properly preventing his car from getting stuck.
Where's Doctor Darwin when you need him?!
What an Impala hit by a locomotive looks like
Patriot Ledger story and photo.
Why I hate politicians #23483
Everything is about reducing liabilities. From the Ledger article:
1) Unless you're going to put in spike strips or erect a wall, someone is going to try and go around the gates. Anyone willing to do anything like that already thinks they're smarter than the warning system implemented..which leads me to my second point...
2) The trains going slower is the exact OPPOSITE of what should be done. The trains should go through faster. Half the reason this idiot thought it would be a good idea to skip the gate was that the train was going "slow enough to get by". If it was barreling down even a little bit faster on that intersection regularly, there's no way the guy would have thought he would beat it (nor would he feel it was necessary as it would be past him soon enough anyways). We've panicked so much that some moron might lose his car or his life that we've done everything but install puffy feather bags on the fronts of the trains to tickle the idiot driver who gets in the way of the tracks. Look at that Impala...with the exception of a bit of axle damage, it appears almost driveable! One or two cars being dismantled like the DeLorean at the end of "Back to the Future 3" would be all it takes to make even some of the most brash road warriors think twice about jumping the gate (and all it would take is thinking twice for the train to get past at its new higher rate of speed).
Hell, to hear this selectman talk, he's about 1 month and 1 more train-on-car accident from requesting the MBCR run like the Green B Line at Harvard and Comm Ave where the *train* was recently given STOP signs at the road crossing to give priority to the cars (who are ALL confused as to why the train is stopping for them and usually let the train go *anyways*...after it's already added another 1-2 minutes to its transit time for the unnecessary stop)!!!
any why I hate quick, "obvious" answers to complicated questions
1. sure.
2.
a) people aren't good at judging the speed of something coming directly toward them (as a train on the tracks)
b) faster trains mean the gates come down well before the train is in sight, since the window between the time the gates come down the time it gets there is now really short compared to the time it takes to settle down the passing traffic and be assured that it's stopped... meaning there would be longer interval when the gates are down and no train is in sight... meaning guys will try to drive around anyway, cuz there's "no train" (BANG!)
so, i cannot concur that making trains run faster will improve safety at grade crossings.
I think the scariest thing
I think the scariest thing of all is that at the end of the article he's pushing for Abington to be a whistle-free zone...
Because not letting the train sound it's whistle is sure to reduce the number of accidents.
What was this person thinking?!?
What was this person thinking when he drove around the railroad gates?!?
Didn't he understand that one's supposed to wait when those railroad gates come down to let the oncoming train go by and then wait for the railroad gates to go completely up and the red lights to stop flashing before proceeding on? That's how it was when I learned to drive and got my license 40 years ago.
Two words for this guy
Involuntary vasectomy.
No way
I don't believe that guy's story for a second.