We lived in White Rock, British Columbia for a few years. It is located a stone's throw north of Washington State. There are some wonderful tidal flats that are accessed by walking over a railway. Thousands of people do this annually without getting hit or killed by a train. Then there are others.....
A woman was killed by the train because she tried to catch up to her husband when out jogging. She had on ear buds.
In another incident, a young couple decided to lie down on the tracks and kiss in order to see if the train would stop. But trains are owned by large, evil, nefarious corporations so if private citizens gratuitously cause the train companies (and clients) to lose millions of dollars: not a problem! Expect a hand slap.
I imagine a five or six-car passenger train traveling at 65 mph (104 km/h for everyone outside the US) would probably take about half a mile (800 m) to come to a complete stop, so lying on the tracks, hoping they'll stop, seems like a pretty bad idea. Around here a lot of cars get hit by trains when they try to run the light - either racing under the first gate before it's down all the way and getting stuck behind the second one, or (more idiotically) driving around the gate.
The trains come across the border and then skirt downtown White Rock for a couple of kilometers. White Rock is touristy and lots of folks cross the tracks to get to the beach (tidal flats) or the pier. So the trains go slowly.
I don't get it. When I was 5 maybe 6 years old, we put copper pennies on the tracks and then would pick them later after they were flattened. I recall having a huge amount of respect for trains at the age of 6.
But then I count myself lucky. I was hit by a car and thrown 15 feet through the air when I was 16. Entirely my fault. Poor driver.... he turned white as a sheet. FWIW, I apologized profusely. That experience makes me very cautious around heavy machinery.
I will not hesitate to hike several kilometres of rail line along a river I want to fish but I am off the tracks and out of the way in a second or two as soon as a freight train is spotted. When approaching a rail crossing, I always look both directions even if there is a well-lit gate that blocks traffic. That little bit of hyper-vigilance costs a little effort but does not negatively impact anybody else.
Though I am not very pleasant to chat with while crossing big city intersections on foot. I pay attention and do not care if I loose the thread of the conversation.
Low probability events, incredibly nasty outcomes should things turn out badly.....
Remember how controversial seat belts in automobiles used to be? Some people are still too lazy to buckle up and the traffic death stats show that. 58 persons who died in auto accidents in BC in 2016 were not wearing their seat belts. !!!!
I find the fact that people get hit by trains fascinating. I mean, how can one be unaware of a gigantic, noisy machine hurtling toward them?
There was a rough crossing in the town Justine and I went to college in that people in small cars tended to go over slowly... the tracks came around a bend lined with eucalyptus, and you couldn't see more than 100 yards... short enough to make you think, "what if a train's coming fast? I might not make it!" LEGEND* has it that the frat boys whose house was right there too, liked to go out there at night and hit cars with a spotlight just to make the drivers loose their bowels.
*urban legend, I'm sure, but I wouldn't put it past those AGR guys.
==========
A couple decades ago, the BNRR put automatic gates at all of the crossings that used to just have signs. So by the side of the tracks, 50 feet or so off the road, there's a little shed for the controls or something. Above the door of the shed is an unnecessarily bright light that's on all the time so a worker can see to put his key in the lock, or something. Anyway, there's one of these situated just so that if I'm coming from work, the building blocks the light just until I'm about 10 feet from the tracks, then POW it's in my face.... a bright light on the tracks about 50 feet away. Took me years to get used to that and yes, I know it's karma for thinking the fratboy prank was funny.
We lived in White Rock, British Columbia for a few years. It is located a stone's throw north of Washington State. There are some wonderful tidal flats that are accessed by walking over a railway. Thousands of people do this annually without getting hit or killed by a train. Then there are others.....
A woman was killed by the train because she tried to catch up to her husband when out jogging. She had on ear buds.
In another incident, a young couple decided to lie down on the tracks and kiss in order to see if the train would stop. But trains are owned by large, evil, nefarious corporations so if private citizens gratuitously cause the train companies (and clients) to lose millions of dollars: not a problem! Expect a hand slap.
I imagine a five or six-car passenger train traveling at 65 mph (104 km/h for everyone outside the US) would probably take about half a mile (800 m) to come to a complete stop, so lying on the tracks, hoping they'll stop, seems like a pretty bad idea. Around here a lot of cars get hit by trains when they try to run the light - either racing under the first gate before it's down all the way and getting stuck behind the second one, or (more idiotically) driving around the gate.
I find the fact that people get hit by trains fascinating. I mean, how can one be unaware of a gigantic, noisy machine hurtling toward them?
Perceptually, a large fast moving object reasonably far away appears to be a small slow moving object. That's why people in sailboats and kayaks get nailed crossing shipping lanes. Evolution needs to catch up with technology.
We lived in White Rock, British Columbia for a few years. It is located a stone's throw north of Washington State. There are some wonderful tidal flats that are accessed by walking over a railway. Thousands of people do this annually without getting hit or killed by a train. Then there are others.....
A woman was killed by the train because she tried to catch up to her husband when out jogging. She had on ear buds.
In another incident, a young couple decided to lie down on the tracks and kiss in order to see if the train would stop. But trains are owned by large, evil, nefarious corporations so if private citizens gratuitously cause the train companies (and clients) to lose millions of dollars: not a problem! Expect a hand slap.
I find the fact that people get hit by trains fascinating. I mean, how can one be unaware of a gigantic, noisy machine hurtling toward them?
It looks like that is a gate behind that truck or was there just a gate on one side? Did that gate come down behind him because he was going so slow? Weird - he's lucky he was able to walk out of the cab.
