2 killed in train accident

[busboy]

I don't understand why this happens so often??? The area is flat and wide open, there's no way someone couldn't see or hear the train coming. I'm not sure if the crossing has lights or automatic gates, but even if it doesn't, you'd have to totally lacking in situational awareness to not know a train was coming. Someone said the truck was stopped on the tracks, not sure if that's true or not.

I hope the train wasn't damaged and nobody aboard got hurt.

Train accident link

 

[GlobalistPotato]

Well, I looked at the map in the article, and the grade crossing that this occurred on didn't have any gates - just a crossing buck and a stop sign. The crossing is in the middle of an S-curve with limited visibility due to trees. And that the track curves only a hundred feet or so after the grade crossing.

So it's one of those places that has more potential for an accident to occur.

 

[George Harris]

It is as globalist says in the middle of an S curve. Also, this line, being the ex Seaboard Air Line main is relatively lightly traveled. Alignment geometry says the train could not have been going very fast. Looks like the road dead ends not far beyond the crossing. Wouldn't surprise me to find that there is very little down it but some of the town's facilities. Most likely an example that "familiarity breed contempt" That is, these guys have probably been going back and forth across this track for years and had simply gotten in the habit of not looking to carefully.

 

[VentureForth]

Judging by the Silver Star's schedule and reported time of the accident, it appears the train was running almost 2 hours late. These guys probably rarely ever saw the train go by at 5:30AM, but even so, probably didn't expect it at 7:45 thinking out had already gone by {if they were familiar with the traffic, and as George said, probably not much other traffic on that segment).

A tragedy, but a wonderment of what obeying a stop sign could have done.

Doesn't really look like there was a hump to get caught on. Why do vehicles seem to stereotypically get such on the track? This seems to be a smooth grade.

It does seem to be a lousy place for just a simple buck cross and stop sign. Being a public street, it should have lights at least.