@Marnet–You might want to show this news article and video to your daredevil relative:
I agree that expensive tickets can work, as a deterrent
Several years ago, I received a $137 jaywalking ticket. The traffic officer was standing so that, you would have no chance of seeing him before jaywalking. They know where to wait
Anyways, that left a really bad taste in my mouth, and I haven’t jaywalked since
That’s probably a good thing, because people drive fast
Oh, here’s the worst part of it
A colleague had some law enforcement connections and said he’d call in a favor, to make the ticket disappear, so to speak. Bottom line, I did somebody a favor, and did about an hour’s work on somebody’s car, for free
And then the ticket didn’t even disappear, after all
So I had to pay the $137 ticket, lose an hour of time, and listen to my colleague bragging about his connections
After it was all said and done, I told my colleague to not do me any more favors
No more jaywalking
And no more calling in favors, when faced with a fine
This is interesting . . . I didn’t ask my colleague to call in a favor. He had heard about the ticket and stuck his nose in, saying he’d get the ball rolling and get it taken care of. It was his idea, not mine. This is how I found out he’s just full of hot air. All talk, and no walk
Thanks @VDCdriver, I shall. Sadly, I doubt it will do any good; I’ve had this argument with her before after similar tragedies in the news. She just doesn’t get it that there is far more than her life at stake. She is generally a good person I am fond of but on the issue of thrill driving she is so wrongly pigheaded.
I have no doubt that driving greatly multiplies any aggressive tendencies a person has.
Galant, local streets and country roads have a much higher death rate per mile than interstates. Minivans and SUVs are the vehicle of choice for road trips. If you had a minivan and a compact car, only a masochist would chose the compact for a road trip.
Actually, if you want the safest vehicle per passenger mile you would have to drive a school bus.
Marnet, et al–Some details are beginning to emerge about that horrific SUV/train crash that I referenced in the earlier post. In all, 7 people died–the woman driving the Mercedes SUV, and 6 totally innocent men riding in the first car of that commuter train.
As best they can piece the accident together at this early juncture, the woman in the SUV was in a line of traffic, and chose to stop on the RR tracks–rather than “laying back”. While her vehicle was stopped on the tracks, the warning signals activated, and then the crossing gates came down–trapping her vehicle.
The driver exited her vehicle, physically raised one of the gates, and then got back in her vehicle–apparently to drive away. At that point, the train hit her vehicle and an incredible fire ensued–with the death toll that I stated above. Additionally, a number of people have been hospitalized and are in critical condition.
So, the “take-away” from this incident is that, just as you should never enter an intersection unless you know that you will be able to clear it before the light changes, you should never enter upon RR tracks unless you know that you will be able to clear them before the gates come down.
Edit:
The NTSB now says that “only” five innocent bystanders (+ the driver of the Mercedes SUV) died as a result of this woman blocking the RR tracks with her Mercedes SUV, and that 12 people were hospitalized with injuries ranging from “serious” to “critical”.
Looking at all these videos and reading all these comments makes me think that the sweet spot for compromise between driving a behemoth (to be safe) and a compact car (to be frugal) is a small to midsize CUV (CRV, RAV4, Tucson, Sportage, etc). They are relatively efficient and also sit high. Just not fun to drive and a bit noisier than the midsize sedans (Camry et al).
This is all good discussions since we are saving & shopping for a new used car for my 18 year old.
Unfortunately, I see people do stupid things all the time, when they’re crossing the tracks, or waiting to cross the tracks
Near my work, there’s railroad tracks, which I need to cross every time I go on a road test
The are “wait here” markings clearly painted bright white on the road surface. You’d have to be high on drugs to not see them. Not only that, but just in front of and behind that marking, there are thick white lines
Impossible not to see. And impossible to not comprehend it
Yet I constantly see people willfully disregard the warning, and when there’s a line of cars crossing the tracks, they just stop on the tracks
One time I saw something kind of frightening. I was hanging back, in the clearly designated waiting area
The cars in front of me were not in the designated waiting area. One of them was on the tracks, when the bells started sounding, and the gates started coming down. The person in the car on the tracks slammed on the accelerator pedal and physically pushed the car ahead of her, causing it to lurch forward by several feet. Enough for that car on the tracks to get off, before being completely trapped by the gates
The person in the car that was hit was really frightened, because they got rear ended, but good.
But the person in back was mentally retarded for stopping on the tracks. Thankfully, they had enough brains to realize they had one chance, and one chance only, at life
I honestly believe we need to STOP being so dang P.C. about training new drivers and get back to the basic…in your face…truth about how the DRIVER matters most. NOT the babysitting vehicle.
Back when I was learning to drive , my whole class went to an evening presentaion by the state police where they showed us un-edited accident scene police evidence photographs. Blood, guts, twisted bones and all !
My god…
When we left there …EVERY ONE of us drove completely different forever more !
They did one of those things in my kids HS, where the police had a mock accident scene with real smashed up cars and then “bloody” actors and so on. Two things happened, an older guy who was hiking nearby took these seriously, rushed to help and then had to be taken to the hospital because he was looking pretty stressed and then my kid came home and said she never wants to drive. So we had to fix that problem 
I used to work with a guy that had this happen to him: He stopped for an oncoming train when the lights started flashing and the gates came down. While sitting there minding his own business, an impaired or distracted driver rear ended him and knocked him through the gates onto the tracks, right in front of the oncoming train. (the trains at this crossing move at 50-60MPH) Fortunately, while his car was totalled (the back end was bent up like a boat tail), it did not stall and he drove through the gates on the other side and to safety with a narrow margin. The car was still drivable and he showed up for work after the accident was processed. He was understandably still pretty shaken up.
One thing in his favor was that he had an older car with a mechanical fuel pump and no inertia switch or other gear that might have helpfully shut off his engine in the crash.
CSX has a major switching hub here in my town, so detouring and/or waiting on trains is the norm. It’s also not unheard of for the gates to go down while the train is stopping to wait to be switched over to a different track. This leads to people going around the gates while the train is in plain view, stopped, or after they’ve waited a minute or two with nothing coming.
The way most crossing gates were traditionally made there was nothing to stop you driving off the tracks,except cars ahead of you. The crossbar of the gate only blocks the lane entering the crossing, not exiting. Unfortunately, that design made it easy for people to zigzag their way through the closed gates. More are now being made that block both lanes, but there is generally enough room to pull a vehicle forward off the tracks. Besides, the arms are lightweight and won’t stop you if you drive through them. What the driver in this recent incident should have done. She’d already showed she wasn’t thinking clearly by waiting on the tracks. Anyone who lives near those tracks knows trains are frequent and not creeping along.
If you’re riding on a train with a passenger car on the front, that’s the most dangerous place to ride. If there is a locomotive in front of you, they bear the brunt of a collision. Many commuter railroads (sometimes even longer trains) operate in push-pull fashion, with the logos at the front of the train going one way, and at the back when returning, with just an operator cab in the front passenger car. This is much more efficient than having to reposition and turn the locomotives at the end of each run. A number of bad accidents have been exacerbated by there being passengers at the head of the train. A locomotive is heavier and has a sturdy front end built for collisions, and a passenger car doesn’t. Some commuter train operators are using old locomotives, with the innards removed, at the opposite end from the real locomotives. These can function as operator cabs and protect the train better, but it adds cost. The train in this latest accident is electric, with each car powered (iirc), so there wasn’t any locomotive, just an operator cab at the front of the first car. On electrified railroads this is common, though some use electric locomotives and unpowered cars.
I’ve ridden trains quite a bit over the years, and love the experience. I hope these very rare accidents don’t scare people away, as trains are really quite safe. Not to mention efficient and fun.
I hope these very rare accidents don’t scare people away, as trains are really quite safe. Not to mention efficient and fun.
Good thoughts. I agree.
SO tow recent accidents in the news that are relevant;
One an SUV that was stuck on the tracks in Valhalla NY and the train ran into it and had the driver and a few of the front car passengers died. Seems like the driver was not familiar with that route.
The other one is the accident on PCH when an SUV slammed into a car and pushed it onto oncoming traffic and another SUV hit the car head on (one of the SUV’s was driven by a celebrity, but not relevant). The driver of the car died. I was looking at the pictures and the car seems to be the large Lexus sedan, so not an unsafe car. But I guess low sitting position was a minus for the driver. Also reminds me on not steering to left when “waiting” to make a left turn, so when you get rear-ended you are not pushed in the lanes of oncoming traffic.
"Seems like the driver was not familiar with that route. "
Where did you get that information?
Because this is a relatively local story in my area, it is being reported on constantly by the media and I have not heard anyone claim that she was unfamiliar with that road. The accident took place in the same town where she had lived for quite a few years.
Confused?
Probably
Unfamiliar?
I don’t think so…
@VDCdriver ; I got my info from the news media, so not my fault
Even though I don’t live in NE now, I used to live in CT/Fairfield county and still have a few friends there and somehow keep following the news. What was said was that this was a detour for that day and she would not have gone that direction if it wasn’t for the detour. Also someone mentioned that the car was new to her or maybe she was a newer driver. Obviously, I have not verified any of this. I will try to do some digging.
From what I understand, (all hear say and still under investigation) the lady in the car/train accident was doing what many of us have before. She was in slow moving traffic, bumper to bumper that was moving slowly. As she inched he way along, before any train warning signals began, she found herself directly behind the car in front while still “stuck” in traffic and sitting on the tracks. Could she have waited till there was enough space on the other side before crossing ? Sure. Maybe she just misjudged the speed of the car in front which stopped before she anticipated.
^
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I have never–and will never–enter upon RR tracks unless there is enough room in front for me to clear those tracks. It’s just so easy to lay back and wait until it is obvious that I won’t wind up stuck in that dangerous position.
“The big question everyone wants to know is: Why was this vehicle in the crossing?” Sumwalt said, noting that a crash earlier on the Taconic State Parkway caused traffic to be diverted into the area. “We want to understand what, if any, effect that detour had in setting up this accident.”