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Level crossing stupidity...


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Even when I am logged on to Facebook I get a message saying content not found. I think your link is incomplete.

I get the group home page, but I think you have to actually join the group to see any content

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It says there is no crossing, then it says there were no barriers ('non protege'?).

 

I gather there was a diversion - so was there a road crossing or something, or not? If he'd just set off across the running lines, surely they'd have made more of it?

Edited by jwealleans
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Found this one on Google News France; taking stupidity crossing the tracks to a new level, this driver didn't bother with looking for a crossing:-

https://actu.fr/pays-de-la-loire/sable-sur-sarthe_72264/spectaculaire-collision-entre-train-poids-lourd-sable-sur-sarthe_17678701.htm

 

It says there is no crossing, then it says there were no barriers ('non protege'?).

 

I gather there was a diversion - so was there a road crossing or something, or not? If he'd just set off across the running lines, surely they'd have made more of it?

 

 

Looks like a chiltern 67!

 

It's an ungated crossing on a minor road (presumably being used as a diversionary route).  Although both train and truck are reported as travelling at low speed, the truck driver cannot have checked the crossing was clear - blaming the sighting on the road approaching the crossing.  As can be seen, visibility along the line is limited in both directions and there is no facility for drivers of slow vehicles to telephone/alert the signaller.  The truck was pushed into a house between the road and railway line.  

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.8518718,-0.397632,3a,75y,5.77h,61.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTVRpjCxaHARg7dFFVkkK2Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

The loco is an SNCF class 75 diesel (other operators are available).

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Just snipped this plonker at Flagstaff AZ causing a BNSF freight to do an emergency stop.

(Credit to Youtube)

post-6208-0-13975300-1531416397.jpg

 

09:43 MST (about 45 mins ago)

 

Look at the crossing at the left.

He stood there until the last couple of seconds despite plenty of horn.

 

Keith

 

 

 

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Here we go again:

 

"Simon French, Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents said:

 

No motorist wants to encounter an obstruction on an unlit road after dark. Large animals or fallen trees are to some extent a normal part of rural life. But to find part of a freight train, stationary and with no visible lights, looming out of the darkness on a level crossing in the early hours of the morning, must have been a truly terrifying experience. There was no warning. The level crossing barriers had risen, and the road lights had stopped flashing, over a minute before the car approached the crossing. The driver of the car that hit this train was lucky to escape with her life."

 

RAIB report today: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-082018-collision-at-stainforth-road-level-crossing

 

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That statement from Simon French is pure sensationalism and will play straight into the hands of the media.

 

What about the fact that the driver was approaching the crossing at 40 - 50 mph (and if that is what they claim, it was probably faster) and did not see the wagon, which had however been seen by the car coming in the opposite direction.

 

If this had been 200 yards back, and the driver had hit a parked unlit vehicle, or a cow or similar, it would not even have been investigated!  I don't think I would approach a level crossing at 40mph.

 

No doubt the issues about the crossing need sorting, but as a driver you are responsible for driving in a manner which allows you to stop short of any obstruction.    If you cannot spot something as big as the biomass wagon in your headlights you are clearly driving too fast!

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That statement from Simon French is pure sensationalism and will play straight into the hands of the media.

 

 

It's surprisingly emotive language.

 

Edited to add:

 

I'm finding it hard to believe this is in a RAIB report and not a newspaper.

 

Given the statement: "RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions." I would expect some degree of impartiality but it does not come across that way to me.

 

It seems to take the usual view in newspapers that the less common an event is, and therefore the more newsworthy, the more important it is that something is done to stop it happening again. 

 

And then there's the common journalistic theme of "Look how dangerous the railways are - a mere 8 years ago something similar happened"

 

In any case there is a huge difference between barriers up and train approaching as at Moreton on Lugg and barriers up with a stationary obstacle on the line as in this case.

Edited by Coryton
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That statement from Simon French is pure sensationalism and will play straight into the hands of the media.

 

What about the fact that the driver was approaching the crossing at 40 - 50 mph (and if that is what they claim, it was probably faster) and did not see the wagon, which had however been seen by the car coming in the opposite direction.

 

If this had been 200 yards back, and the driver had hit a parked unlit vehicle, or a cow or similar, it would not even have been investigated!  I don't think I would approach a level crossing at 40mph.

 

No doubt the issues about the crossing need sorting, but as a driver you are responsible for driving in a manner which allows you to stop short of any obstruction.    If you cannot spot something as big as the biomass wagon in your headlights you are clearly driving too fast!

 

If you drive into the back of the car in front but it didn't have any lights on, who (legally) is to blame? 

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If you drive into the back of the car in front but it didn't have any lights on, who (legally) is to blame? 

Road vehicles have refelectors on the rear, hence there are laws about parking facing oncoming traffic on unlite roads in darkness and and parking anyway without lights on any unlite roads with a speed limit above 30mph. An effing great railwagon blocking the road without warning or markings is not acceptable in my book and glad that lady Herb was not driving.

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Lots of things have no lights on them - livestock for example, a fallen tree etc.  Most people don't crash into them at 40mph just because they have no lights!  Different if they fall in front of you or suddenly appear, but stationary in the road you should be able to see in your lights.  If you cannot, you are driving too fast!

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Put a large, unlit obstruction in the road at night and see how far "they were going too fast" absolves you of liability in the eyes of the court.if someone hits it. I can think of several cases where those responsible for, eg unlit skips have been found liable when someone has clouted them.

 

The railway is not always the innocent party.

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