February 6, 2008

  • It really ought not come as a surprise, but people can be really stupid.

    Especially at intersections of two busy streets that has a train track running through it.

    There is just such an intersection at Hulen and Granbury Rd. that I must cross on my way to Carolyn's house.  This afternoon while stopped at the light I snapped a couple of pix of the pixelheaded people who paused right under the crossing arms:

    Train_crossing

    Had that arm come down it'd have whacked two cars; on the other side:

    Train_crossing2

    Ditto.  Well, I thought to myself, perhaps the train isn't permitted to run through this intersection during rush hour.  Fortunately the light changed, the traffic proceeded, and I continued taking Dmitry to Carolyn's.  On my way home, though, I was caught waaay back from that intersection:

    Train

    Yup.  A long train moving briskly through the intersection.  Since there weren't any shattered pieces of smashed vehicles littering the area, I assume the cars were able to get out of the way in time.

    A few months ago I was going to fetch Dmitry at night, and - as per my custom - I stopped well back of the crossing arms, unlike the car ahead of me.

    Suddenly the lights began to blink, the bell to ring, and those long arms to descend, to the obvious consternation of that car, who swiftly realized that due to the cars ahead of him he couldn't go forward, but if he remained where he was he was going to be hit by them.  Luckily there wasn't anyone directly behind me so I was able to back up, allowing the other driver to do the same, just in time.  The arm barely cleared the front of his car.

    You know, it's certainly a good thing to not stop on the tracks themselves, but it's also wise to keep out from under those crossing arms, folks. 

Comments (5)

  • We used to have alot of train tracks running through Lafayette. There were so many accidents over the years that eventually they had to relocate the tracks, an endeavor that took decades. For the sake of safety it's a good thing, but with a bit more common sense, we'd still have the colorful show of a full sized train rumbling down Fifth Street. I sort of miss that! Now all the accidents, mostly with teenagers and drunk drivers, happen out in the county. Survival of the fittest?

  • that interesection always scares the heck outta me. and pretty much anytime i do 'back roads' vs. highway to hulen stores (mardels, half price books) i cross it.

  • I have always been a stickler for the "don't go until the lights stop flashing" rule. And boy do people behind me lay on the horn when I wait. But not only is it the technically right thing to do according to the law, it's the smart thing to do -- it's not all that unusual for one train to be rapidly succeeded by another one, so what happens if the gates start going down again while I'm crossing the tracks? The lights stopping means "all clear, nothing's coming for a while."

    I also don't even start following the previous car across the tracks anywhere, even if there's no intersection, at a busy time of day unless I'm sure that car has enough room to get all the way across AND for me to follow and get all the way off the tracks before having to stop. I know that annoys the heck out of the drivers behind me, but tough! It's not that I'm paranoid or have an excessive fear of trains, it just seems like the "duh" thing to do -- don't get yourself in a position where you're sitting on a train track with nowhere to go forwards or backwards.

  • Sometimes you don't live to make the same mistake twice.  The 16-year-old granddaughter of a friend of Sam's mother was out on a date with a boy the same age.  They came to a RR crossing where the gates were down and the lights were flashing.  The boy thought he could make it before the train came and so went around the first gate.  They didn't make it to the second gate as the train arrived and they were both killed.   For you Pennsylvanians acquainted with John Cope's Corn, it was a Cope grandchild.

  • I was taught that you don't stop on the train tracks. A few years ago a girl in Castle Rock stopped on the tracks, stalled the car and was hit and badly injured (she was in a coma for 2 months). Her family sued the railroad (stating that they should have been able to stop the train), and the car manufacturer (because it was a manual transmission, which, in my opinion shouldn't be a part of the lawsuit because they bought the car knowing that it was a manual transmission). Here we have very very busy train tracks and it amazes me how many people will stop on the tracks....or who will drive around the gates to try to beat the train. Crazy

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