So THAT'S What All The Sirens Were About

February 17, 2007 9:53 PM from

I'd heard a number of emergency vehicle sirens late last night. From their sounds I could distinguish fire, police, and ambulance sirens. I assumed it must be yet another car wreck somewhere in the area. Happens a lot. Must have been a bad one for that much activity.

I learned today that it was a wreck of sorts, just not the usual car crash sort of thing. Some bone head truck driver managed to get his rig hit by a train a few blocks from here.

Huh?

I know that crossing. It's well marked and has warning lights and bells.

The news story states that he stopped his truck "too close to the tracks" and the train hit the front end of the truck. Ok, I've been driving rigs for over 10 years. You don't stop your truck with the front end on top of railroad tracks. Period.

I suspect that he stopped for the signals, couldn't see a train due to the buildings blocking his view, and started inching forward to see if it was clear to run the signals. Bam!

The driver wasn't killed or even badly injured. Can't say the same for his truck. I'm guessing the dumbass wishes he'd rolled down the windows so he could hear that really loud train coming huh?

misc

4,004 views 10 replies

Reply #1 February 17, 2007 11:09 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Interesting. I hear reports of stuff like this happening every now and again, but like you I can never quite figure out why. It's not like trains aren't easy to see or hear. I guess we have more deaf and blind drivers out there than we realize. :confused smiley:

Reply #2 February 17, 2007 11:13 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Yeah, but it's scary when that driver is behind the wheel of a vehicle that can be more than 70 feet long and weigh upwards of 80,000 lbs. Those people give the rest of us a bad rep.

Reply #3 February 17, 2007 11:31 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Strange. All caused by lack of just paying attention.

Reply #4 February 17, 2007 11:39 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Strange. All caused by lack of just paying attention.

Or sheer stupidity.

Reply #5 February 17, 2007 11:44 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

The driver is lucky that he came out okay. I'm sure he'll stay off the train tracks from now on. Scary.

Now I'm hearing Johnny Cash in my head - I hear the train a coming ...

Reply #6 February 17, 2007 11:47 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Now I'm hearing Johnny Cash in my head - I hear the train a coming ..

I wonder if that's what he was listening to when the train took the front off his rig?

Reply #7 February 18, 2007 3:18 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Could have been suicide. I had an aunt who killed herself by deliberately pulling out in front of a train.

Reply #8 February 18, 2007 3:26 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Could have been suicide. I had an aunt who killed herself by deliberately pulling out in front of a train.

Nah, if that was the case he would have pulled further onto the tracks. It was just the very front that got clipped.

Reply #9 February 18, 2007 9:10 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Ah, well mother nature did her best, but I guess the dumb-ass driver lucked out this time. What a moron...

Reply #10 February 18, 2007 9:18 PM from

JoeUser Forums Top

Ah, well mother nature did her best, but I guess the dumb-ass driver lucked out this time. What a moron...

Yeah, he'll live on to propagate his stupid genes to another generation.

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