Train Slams into Truck Trailer Pulled By A F-350

I swear there is a truck gets stuck on the tracks in Acworth at least once each month.  And despite nearby overpasses/underpasses and signs at each crossing prohibiting trucks from using the crossings, there is always some nimrod who believes the laws of physics don't apply to him.

 

Fortunately, no one was killed or hurt.

 

Curt

You often wonder.  A 911 call placed once you know you're in trouble, stuck on the tracks, would the emergency response people be able to stop the train.  Most all have cell phone. 

We are truly surrounded by idiots!

Yes, yes we are.

Just my opinion but, somehow I really don't think that the folks who read the OGR Forums are the types that need this sort of instructions & information.

Unfortunately, people all too often forget about their ground clearance on raised grade crossings. Once you're hi-centered, your vehicle is a coupler ornament.

 Train crew....".OH boy! another 2 hour delay."

All that furniture got turned into toothpicks.Can you imagtion what the truck driver is thinking.He going have to exsplain what happen.Oh wait its on the t.v. news.What in the world in going on.Don,t people read signs any more.Rail road crossing like that always warn about clearance.

I can't speak for where this occurred but where I am at the 911 center does have direct numbers to BNSF.  They can and are notified of such incidents, then it is up to them to contact their train crews and try to stop their trains or attempt to get them stopped.  They are contacted for many reasons, such as if officers are searching for someone or are investigating an incident that may place them near the tracks so that the RR has a heads up and can alert their crews.

If you are implying that the 911 call center call the train crew on THEIR own cell phone, that would not work because, by Federal Law, any and all members in the locomotive cabs MUST have their cell phones turned OFF and stowed (the same applies to any cameras).

 

The train crews can ONLY be reached by RR radio.

Assuming there's time.

 

Rusty

I may be missing something here, but how did this just happen to be caught on video?

I believe the video is from a police car dash camera.

Oddly enough, this is the second accident in this same area that was caught on video.  The last one was a year or so back.  That video was captured on a cell phone camera by someone coming out of the post office and quickly realizing what was going to happen.

Curt

If there are so many idiots in that neighborhood, maybe a dummy hump can be put in the road so trucks can get stuck before they get to the r.o.w.

 

  --jcr

Exactly...that's why I said try/attempt as there is just not always going to be time for that.

       
       


There really isn't room to do that.  There are parallel streets running along both sides of the CSX mainline at this location.  Both streets are well below the grade of the tracks.  There simply isn't enough distance between either parallel street and the tracks to install a dummy hump.

As I mentioned above, there are over/under passes near this particular accident site.  I suspect laziness factors into these trucks getting stuck on the crossings as much as stupidity.  The drivers simply don't want to expend the few extra minutes it would take to use the approved routes for trucks.

Curt

If there are nearby overpasses, why not close the crossings? 

The over/underpasses do require a bit of extra driving to reach so, closing the crossings would impede easy access to businesses on either side of the tracks.  Too, so long as the vehicle attempting to cross is a car or pickup only, the crossings are perfectly safe.  And each crossing is clearly marked indicating vehicles with trailers are not to use the crossing.

That said, I guess if people started being killed in these accidents, Acworth's leadership would take steps to close them.

Curt

Even though we are railroad fans (O.K. nuts) but I just can't understand why people don't realize that you can't win when you are on the tracks when a train is coming.  It seems like it is just common sense.  Why do so many people not seem to understand that?

 

Art

chugman you just stated the obvious COMMON SENSE. we live in a society where no one is allowed to feel bad no one can be scolded when they do something wrong and lastly if something happens its always someone else's fault. example close the crossing because someone can't read or understand the sign. maybe if mommy or daddy gave little jimmy a paddling when he did something wrong little jimmy might not thought the sign applied to someone else and his trailer and furniture would have survived the move

we live now in a dumbed down society where common sense is fiction and young people are rewarded for stupidity and blind following, punished for individual thought and action.. much like in stalin's days...

To members of the general public who are not railfans, railroads are just another part of the superstructure.  They don't see them as either benign or malevolent, and they don't consider the consequences of stopping on the tracks.  Aside from the daily commute, trains are just a remote occurrence that doesn't really apply to everyday life.  It's more a matter of apathy than stupidity. 

 

Or maybe the driver didn't want "big government" telling him where he could or couldn't drive his truck.  

 Just to throw this out there,the truck is pulling an extremely long tri-axle race car trailer that's just to low for the crossing.

 I first thought by the headline it was pulling a semi tractor trailer  

Is there noit a US DOT crossing number and phone number on the relay box controling the signal.  Also, in TX, there is a blue sign on SOME crossings with a phone number and the DOT crossing number.  The phone nuber is to TXDot , exceot for along the METRO Red Line.  That number is to METRO, and the crossing number is one assigned by METRO.

Sometimes I wonder if the engineer seeing something like this doesn't momentarily think "Oh h*** I gonna hit it, might as well gun it to run 8, No sense wearing out brake shoes and flat wheeling every car..." 

Though in reality, this would be last thing you think other than survival, plus I assume engines have black box recorders for speed and braking etc for evidence.  Though, do engineers "slam on the brakes" knowing full well that they can't stop, or do they just drop to lowest run and do a gradual brake application?

The young people you know are NOTHING like the young people that I know!

 

A lot of the college age kids (including my daughter) that I know are better educated coming out of high school, have a better grasp on the world, and are inclined to follow their own paths, then many in my generation.

 

Jim