I mean how stupid do you have to be to "take a chance" at a level crossing?

[JollyPirate]

Honestly

yup. Boggles belief.

This is even worse
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8304474.stm
Who would risk their baby for a matter of waiting a few mins extra?

OMG - unbelievable.

Well we have removed all of the predators from day to day life in the west.

Evolution will not be denied.

Do you think some people are just too stupid to realise it takes trains a long time to stop, or that they can't swerve?

Really feel for the drivers, especially the guy where that woman was dashing across with a buggy - must have been horrible for him to see that.

I heard this on the radio this morning.

I just thought who would be stuoid enough. But that video of the mum with the pram.

Daft sods.

I used to live on a road behind a level crossing - there was no way out except over the crossing.

One morning they forgot to put the barriers up after the train. It had those half barriers - one on each side on the left side of the road.

So there's about 6 cars waiting, and we all know the train timetable by heart 'cos we do this everyday. So we're all out of our cars, standing around, listening, peering up the track, wondering what to do.

One bright spark eventually realised there is a phone in a box by the barriers, to call the operator. . (this in the days before everyone had a mobile)

But the point is that none of us were going to risk driving around the barriers.

I stalled on the crossing once. I'm sat there desperately trying to restart my ancient car, praying that the barrier warning lights don't start, thinking that if they do I'm going to have to get out and leave my car! That was fun. (my car did start!)

Maybe they should consider putting up cameras and handing out fines.

paulaplumpbottom "Maybe they should consider putting up cameras and handing out fines."

You would think that the possibility of being hit by a fucking train would be enough of a deterrent? If someone is dumb enough to try to outrun a train they deserve to get hit by it. Their kids don't but as we can't legislate for stupid people having kids there isn't much more you can do about it.

What drives me nuts here in London are the people who attempt to dash across the road in front of the bus. You know? That Giant Red Thing that takes a bit of time to stop?

I don't think anyone deserves to die no matter how stupid they are. I was thinking about the people who might die on the train or the drivers passengers. Do they deserve to die?

paulaplumpbottom "I don't think anyone deserves to die no matter how stupid they are."

Reality/evolution/the planet disagrees.

If someone is dumb enough to walk in front of a train then putting up a sign is not going to stop them from doing it.

Anyone on the train has my sympathy, the moron on the tracks, not at all.

the world is full of idiots.

"You would think that the possibility of being hit by a fucking train would be enough of a deterrent? If someone is dumb enough to try to outrun a train
they deserve to get hit by it." amen.

Lo at morloth

This shows the young mum with the pram, but the segment with the van shown first is almost more hair raising, imo! The van only just misses being hit by the train as it reverses off the crossing - I just hope that the driver got the shock of their life and never does anything this spectacularly stupid again.

DH &I actually knew personally two drivers of steam engines on a tourist railway in the south east who were both killed, a few years apart, in accidents where idiot motorists did not stop at the warning lights. I have no wish to google the details myself but i am sure the stories are there if you want to look and verify what i am saying.

Ok, slightly different than dodging a barrier i guess, but as this thread shows, just putting in barriers (which is happening on this railway now) does not mean no more accidents. In both incidents I speak of the drivers were local people (so no excuse for not knowing the crossing was there)and in one case they MUST have been able to see the train when they approached the crossing.

some people are mindless morons with an "i'm invincible" attitude and do not give a damn about how their actions affect anyone else

and

and I agree about fines not being a deterrent.

fines for mobile phone use while driving have not deterred people, who seem oblivious to the fact that the law is there because of the huge RISK they are taking

more people should have their licenses permanently removed THAT might just be deterrent enough....then again, some people are just plain stupid

Then there is this* stupid cow who got herself and her kids killed. I can't imagine the drivers of the trains got off without injury either.

*WARNING: DO NOT WATCH IF YOU GET EASILY UPSET.

Even if they had no physical injuries, train drivers are really traumatised when they hit a car or a person, because as someone said earlier, they cannot swerve or brake in time, so have to sit there and watch as someone is killed. Some train drivers involved in incidents like these never drive a train again.

everytime another person gets killed by a train their family comes on the local news (east anglia- lot of level crossings) and says how its the railways fault and that there should be bridges/better signs/locking gates whatever. Everytime I think don't cross when you shouldnt. Trains are not small its not like you cant see them bloody coming

Morloth - that looked like suicide (and murder of the children) to me. How awful.

should have clarified that in my 13:38 post, the car drivers and their passengers were all OK, just the innocent train drivers killed, unable to swerve or stop

i agree, heqet: it did look like she was deliberately trying to get run over.

bronze: you're right: no matter how many times people say that there should be better barriers, people will still cros them: like that running person in the first video who jumped over the closed barrier.

why are people so stupid?

That hadn't even occurred to me heQet I had assumed that she was racing the first train and just didn't see the second one.

Shakes head at people, madness.

There was a radio advert running a few months back, something along the lines of 'this is the sound of a person being hit at a level crossing by a train'. You brace yourself for the thud but all you hear is the train passing by as normal because '10 stone of human being has no effect on however many tonnes of speeding train'. Horrible advert, very powerful message. Some people are just too stupid for words