Question I keep asking myself is how does this happen? According to the news item, a woman was shunted onto the lines by a transit van while waiting at a crossing in Lincolnshire. Sounds like she stopped because the lights were flashing but the barriers were not down. Having been shunted forward the barriers must have then come down trapping her on the lines. However, the train can't have come through IMMEDIATELY the barriers went down (unless there was a signalling error) so what happens in this situation? If it were me, or any of us surely, I would jump out of the car immediately and get myself clear of the lines - never mind the car. If the train then ploughs into the car the consequences could be serious for those on board but not for me, the car driver. So, what happens? Did this woman today freeze with terror and just sit there waiting to be hit? Is this what happens in every case - an incident all too frequent it seems. Or maybe some drivers try to drive clear of the oncoming train (maybe along the vacant railway track?) Just curious about this - can't understand why there are so many fatalities at these kind of crossings. Not as if a train is a silent presence is it.? There would be horns blaring from some distance away and they do make a hell of a racket just going along the tracks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/7811297.stm It sounds to me like there wanst very long between the collision and the train if you read the above report If thats true then someone needs to look at the timings - The crossings round here the barriers come down a good 2 to 3 mins before a train arrives so that there is time to stop the train if some idiot stops on the crossing in heavy traffic - I've seen this several times that people quue across the crossing and then are stuck when the barrier tries to come down
Impossible to know what goes through the mind in such situations Clearly she should have got out and left the car. But if panic sets in, and your brain will only let you stay in the car to shift it off the track to save your life, then its hard to do much else in the grip of terror. By the time she's realised that she should have legged it on foot, she's been hit. Like Farnham said tho, she should have had enough time, maybe summat was wrong with the timings.
Must be an element of freezing with fear though - even if you had 10 or 20 seconds between the barriers going down and the train passing through (shouldn't happen though, should it) you would still have time to jump clear. Never been in that situation myself fortunately. Don't know about you but I look both ways before crossing any railway line, provided the view is not obscured that is. Tragic accident and I wonder if the driver of the van can be prosecuted for manslaughter or something
Its not clear what happened The car clipped a van coming the other way in icy conditions - no idea who was at fault or if it was just a slimple slide on the ice that wasnt really down to dangerous driving. Arguably if at fault the van driver could be prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving but that would be harsh for a low speed collision in ice
Yes, that is what I said Just hard to imagine though, isn't it. The fundamental self-preservation gene must malfunction at times like this - maybe the same happens if you are in a dense jungle and you come face to face with a T-Rex. Do you run, do you throw it a stick, or do you just get eaten, just like in the films....
RE: Impossible to know what goes through the mind in such situations A bloody great train, thats what. Sorry, poor taste.
I once saw an accident and the lady involved was in shock and so frightened that the Ambulance men couldn't get her to let go of the steering wheel.