Level crossing stupidity...

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

The car will be an auto so no way can you crank it to get it clear,i think its a girl to be honest and i think she turns so as not to see her car destroyed by the accident.

[PhilJ W]

When I viewed it yesterday the car was in pretty good shape despite being hit by many tons of locomotive. I saw it being hauled onto a sliding bed recovery vehicle that then was parked right underneath the camera. Although badly damaged it was still largely intact but even the roof was badly dented.

[RJS1977]

On 16/01/2023 at 11:02, PhilJ W said:

When I viewed it yesterday the car was in pretty good shape despite being hit by many tons of locomotive. I saw it being hauled onto a sliding bed recovery vehicle that then was parked right underneath the camera. Although badly damaged it was still largely intact but even the roof was badly dented.

 

I think the roof was dented not by the impact from the loco, but by the other crossing pole collapsing on it.

 

Still looks deliberate to me, I'm afraid, especially given the time at which it happened.

[LNERGE]

https://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/four-forces-fail-to-find-record-of-crash-at-level-crossing-9294343/

[Wickham Green too]

Have they checked the incident tape for fingerprints - or swabbed it for DNA ??!? 🙄

[melmerby]

More from Ashland:

 

There's another earlier in the clip, not Ashland.

 

[corneliuslundie]

Wot, no job for the recovery company!

Jonathan

[Wickham Green too]

16 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

Wot, no job for the recovery company!

Not immediately - but who knows what damage it's done to the undergubbins.

[kevinlms]

Is that a disability tag hanging from the interior mirror?

[petethemole]

The driver who was helped out looked elderly and wasn't walking well.

[Wickham Green too]

His walking was better than his driving, though ...... better aim and probably faster too !

[PhilJ W]

I notice that the road on the far left is blocked off and has been for some time and this is not the first one trying to turn right and ended up on the tracks.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I notice that the road on the far left is blocked off and has been for some time and this is not the first one trying to turn right and ended up on the tracks.

IIRC the blocked off road was instigated to allow more pedestrian distancing during covid and has now been made permanent.

 

The one I assume he was aiming for is a one way street, in the wrong direction.

For some reason a lot of drivers at Ashland just don't seem to see the railway properly.

 

IMHO a lot of the strandings would be avoided if the edge of the highway was chamfered down to the trackbed instead of a 6-9" vertical drop.

That would allow a reversal back onto the road in most cases.

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

... For some reason a lot of drivers at Ashland just don't seem to see the railway properly. ...

Might help if they drove on the right side of the car !! 🙄

[duncan]

I don't know about the USA but if that happened in the UK (or Europe), I doubt if the OAP would be keeping their licence.

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, duncan said:

I don't know about the USA but if that happened in the UK (or Europe), I doubt if the OAP would be keeping their licence.

I should hope not.  He had been driving on the wrong side of the road for starters!

[Ian Smeeton]

I just can't understand how they managed to turn on to the track in broad daylight!

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Andy Hayter]

12 minutes ago, Ian Smeeton said:

I just can't understand how they managed to turn on to the track in broad daylight!

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

I agree Ian but at the same time I revert to an earlier post where I suggested that the hatched area makings would seem to draw drivers onto the tracks.   Hatched area then free area (track) then hatched area then free (track) then hatched then the road junction.  

 

It should be straight forward but seems to confuse too many to just be put down to simple driver error.

 

Do we have any examples where a driver has driven off the other side of the crossing - where there are no hatch markings?

 

 

[melmerby]

Looking back on Google Earth, those hatchings appeared around 2012 when the crossing had a re-furb and those concrete infills were added, prior to that it was tarmac all through the crossing.

 

Before:

 

After:+

 

UK crossings hatch the road, not the out of bounds bit:

 

 

 

[stewartingram]

UK hatch markings like a box junction, yellow = don't block it. (box junction or LC).

UK hatch markings, marking abnormal use of road, white, = area of road not normally used. Very common  (centre lane where there is a right turn ahead, or area not to be used but available for a large vehicle (hgv) to turn).

 

So what is the problem?

[Andy Hayter]

I don't know.  Ask all of the people who have driven off the crossing onto the track.

 

The frequency of incidents des suggest there is a problem though.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

I don't know.  Ask all of the people who have driven off the crossing onto the track.

 

The frequency of incidents des suggest there is a problem though.

Is there a large diagram on posts for vehicles approaching the crossing, showing vehicles where to turn, in relation to the railway track?. Such a diagram should show the 2 tracks, with the turns shown AFTER the tracks.

It would appear not, they are just relying on markings painted on the road surface.

[melmerby]

15 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Is there a large diagram on posts for vehicles approaching the crossing, showing vehicles where to turn, in relation to the railway track?. Such a diagram should show the 2 tracks, with the turns shown AFTER the tracks.

It would appear not, they are just relying on markings painted on the road surface.

Coming from the direction that driver was coming from there in nothing to say you can't turn right.

 

Maybe the Sat Navs haven't been updated with the road closure?

Sat Nav says turn right at next junction, which turns out to be blocked by flower beds, the far road is already a no entry so driver goes betwen them, which is the railway.

[Tumut]

On 24/08/2022 at 07:13, johnofwessex said:

 

While my wife isnt that keen on the idea you might understand why I think some driving offences should be treated from start to finish like firearms offences

Hello All, on that note, I find it interesting that if a person kills someone with a weapon, they are likely to get 15 years +, but if instead they killed the victim with a motor vehicle , 15 months is quite likely. I personally think that death by negligence, motor vehicle or not, should get the same sentence as death by a weapon, on the basis that people should be held responsible for their actions, Regards, Tumut

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, Tumut said:

... death by negligence, motor vehicle or not, should get the same sentence as death by a weapon, ...

I said something along those lines umpteen pages back - and I very much doubt we're the only ones thinking that way ....... how the legal profession has come to consider it otherwise escapes me !