In 1961 our game warden was killed at a crossing. Going home for lunch, rock island line. Lights but no gates back then. Who knows. Thinking about something else? Folks have been getting hit by trains for as long as I remember. Neighbor got hit too but she survived. In 1965 boss ran into a train. On th3 way to the bank. Bloody but just some broken bones. Better to hit a train than it hitting you.
Where I live the reports make it sound like the train searched out the pedestrian or vehicle.
You know how they have those big shock absorbing structures on the rear ends of some highway maintenance vehicles now, as well as some trailer mounted road signs? Well… why not put that in front of the train?
Because it would not make any difference !! Where do you get these silly ideas ?
I would suspect that the issue of creating a less deadly attachment for the front of a train would suffer from, what I call the “Pinto Gas Tank Mentality”…," where Ford amortized the cost of the Recall verses when they expected in payouts to the victims…
All trains in the US travel approximately 750 million miles a year and there are an average of about 2,300 accidents involving vehicles. That averages out to about 325,000 miles of accident free travel… And if you really want to be morbid about it… There are an average of only 300 deaths a year involving vehicles and trains, that averages out to one death per 2,500,000 miles of train travel…
So when it comes right down to it, what incentives do the Railroad Companies have when the Trains have the Right of Way and the in the vast, vast number of times, and the accident was caused by the drivers of the vehicles???
As far as I know, it is the railroad that are making all the improvements to the rail crossing in an attempt to make drivers and pedestrians safer, but you just can’t fix stupid.
Our traffic lights are also regulated by approaching trains. Lights turn green to get vehicles away from the tracks and red to prevent traffic from entering the area of the tracks.
Like I said, there is a siding at a local plant with a couple crossings. Never used unless loading or unloading product. The crossings are just marked and a yield sign. Of course if you have to be told to yield to a train, not sure a sign would help.
Good idea!
An energy-absorbing “accordian” could save lives,pecially in broadside collisions which many/most grade crossing vehicle collisions are.
But manyehicles are pushed well down the track until the train comes to a stop.
The device would be in the way of locomotive couplers.
Can’t help myself, accident must have been a !!! mess!
I got behind one on the highway the other day. I slowed down and gave him plenty of room. Started to wonder though, where does he unload? Must go into a huge septic system or arrangements with the city. Not sure I care to know.
It can be used as agricultural fertilizer or delivered to a waste treatment plant.
You should never use raw, untreated human sewage as fertilizer!
Raw human waste contains dangerous levels of pathogens (like E. coli and Salmonella), heavy metals, parasites, and pharmaceutical residues. Applying it directly to soil poses a severe, immediate health risk to humans and animals.
And there is a general movement across the country to not use even Treated Sewage on Crops…
It is not recommended to use treated sewage—known as “biosolids”—as a fertilizer for Consumption Crops, even for Animal Feed fertilizer. While municipal treatments kill most pathogens, these products often carry hidden chemical contaminants like heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and PFAS (“forever chemicals”) that can be absorbed by the food you eat and the animals that make up your food…
Yup. This was/is part of the issue of Mexican imported food products, using human waste as fertilizer. I couldn’t tell you the year but Dr. Osterholm addressed this issue many years ago before he went nuts with Covid.
Yes, human and other animal waste can be used as food fertilizer. Here’s a document distributed by the USDA that states their opinions on the matter. The short answer is that as long as waste is properly treated, it is safe to use as fertilizer on food crops.
This is a typical thread… A train-car wreck discussion that turns to $h1t…LOL
Maybe we hear more about train-car wrecks because people are just not used to seeing trains so often anymore. Like traffic circles, familiarity reduces accidents.
I hate to break it to you: Covid19 was real.
Either the freight yard or the wastewater treatment facility, depending on which vehicle you were following.
? Isn’t that an age demographic?