another level crossing crash - WHY are there so many stupid drivers?

[edam]

train derailed thanks to idiot driver on the crossing.

WTF were they thinking?

They weren't thinking. They definitely weren't thinking of the passengers of the train or of their own lives.

Or of the driver of the train. Some drivers involved in collisions with cars or people on the track never work again because it is such a traumatic experience.

They are driving a vehicle with a huge stopping distance and with no way to steer round the person or car - so they end up sitting there with their foot hard on the brake, hand on the horn and watching as the train ploughs into the person or car. Dh has worked for the railways all his working life, and has had to talk to drivers who have been in this situation, and it is absolutely horrible for them.

I used to use that line and am wondering how he got onto that crossing. Its one of the farm type ones and rarely used

Same for my Dad, Staying. He's had to supervise clean-up operations after this kind of accident. And was driving a steam engine on the Severn Valley when he hit someone driving across a level crossing on a farm track. As you say, nothing he could do. Awful. Driver was killed.

(Car driver, not my Dad, obv.)

Sounds the driver ignored the protocol to gain access to the crossing. He has been arrested for dangerous driving.