Amtrak Wolverine Hits Car West of Kalamazoo

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SarahZ

Quality Control
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May 8, 2011
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http://woodtv.com/2014/11/18/3-dead-after-amtrak-train-hits-car/

The collision occurred just before 5:00 today. W. Michigan is a LONG road that runs parallel to the tracks, so I have no idea where the train actually stopped. They say "three-minute drive", but I don't know if they mean by car or train. I'm assuming it ended up stopping at the intersection of W. Michigan and Stadium, as that is the only place the tracks cross W. Michigan. (W. Michigan then becomes "part of" Stadium until it reaches downtown, where it is then W. Michigan again and runs parallel to the tracks again.)

We've had some nasty weather today, as you can see in the video. My thoughts go out to the first responders who had to deal with this in the middle of multiple collisions and slide-offs, the crew who had to trudge through the snow, the passengers stuck on the train, and the victims' families.
 
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I hear it going past our house now, 4.5 hours late.

I can't imagine being stopped for that long just a couple blocks from our house. :p Thank goodness I don't smoke. ;)
 
When it hits close to home, especially sad. Glad to know the gates and lights were working....but perhaps the unanswered question will always be... why did they drive around the gate? Hope you're ok, must be difficult to deal with on top of the weather you're enduring.
 
When it hits close to home, especially sad. Glad to know the gates and lights were working....but perhaps the unanswered question will always be... why did they drive around the gate? Hope you're ok, must be difficult to deal with on top of the weather you're enduring.
Oh, I'm fine. I wasn't on that train. :) I haven't heard if they bussed passengers, had them stay on the train, etc. It's possible they bussed the Kalamazoo passengers since they were so close to the station.

There is a red light at that intersection, before you get to the crossing, so they not only ran a red light, but they also tried to beat the train. I can't imagine doing that in NICE weather, let alone this nonsense.

KL Ave (the intersecting road) is a main artery to 80% of the student-oriented apartments, so some people think these were WMU students who made a bad decision. :(
 
Very sad for the families, and the engineers who will have to live with this. They did nothing wrong....
 
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There seems to be a small but steady stream of motorists intent on getting themselves killed through reckless driving. I don't know how to stop it; perhaps stronger testing requirements before issuing drivers' licenses; I can't think of anything else.
 
There seems to be a small but steady stream of motorists intent on getting themselves killed through reckless driving. I don't know how to stop it; perhaps stronger testing requirements before issuing drivers' licenses; I can't think of anything else.
In this case, quad gates would have stopped them. Maybe longer gates arms to make it more difficult to drive around, if the grade crossing had typical gate arms. The MLive article indicates the driver and occupants were believed to be teenagers or in their early 20s. The follow-up reports will fill in the details, but if they were that young, then chalk it up to reckless youths who thought they could beat the train.
 
Unless you know what happened inside the car, you've got no way of saying that. For all we know, the driver was going to stop and the two passengers goaded him into trying to beat the train.
 
Unless you know what happened inside the car, you've got no way of saying that. For all we know, the driver was going to stop and the two passengers goaded him into trying to beat the train.
But the driver was in control of the car. Maybe not in control of his/her senses and his/her ability to ignore goading, but ultimately, it was his/her decision.
 
Unless you know what happened inside the car, you've got no way of saying that. For all we know, the driver was going to stop and the two passengers goaded him into trying to beat the train.
If we're going to play the "for all we know" game, then I am going to say that "for all we know, the other passengers were crying out in terror as they observed the driver make an unwise and ultimately deadly decision to go around the gates."

IMO, my scenario is far more likely. If you want to speculate that the passengers were complicit in the driver's decision to defy the law and common sense, feel free. Yes, that would make the passengers less "victims" and more "accomplices." But ultimately, the driver is the one in legal and physical control of the vehicle. That's not something we need to speculate about.
 
I don't disagree with a word of that.

I just don't see the need to make pronouncements like "it was only one student/youth who made a bad decision" when we have no idea what the passengers were doing at the time. It's not at all inconceivable that all 3 in the vehicle were boneheads.

Edit: If we want to put on our super-pendantic pants, the passengers did make the mistake of getting into a vehicle driven by someone that didn't have the common sense not to get hit by a train.
 
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There seems to be a small but steady stream of motorists intent on getting themselves killed through reckless driving. I don't know how to stop it; perhaps stronger testing requirements before issuing drivers' licenses; I can't think of anything else.
This has been going on since the first horse and buggies met the first trains at a grade crossing. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to ever end this problem short of eliminating all grade crossings. Everybody makes a stupid decision at one time or another. Some bad decisions are deadly.
 
Yeah, you're right.... we don't know but I have no problem judging the idiot that drove the car.

I'm watching the news (Wood-TV) right now and they were interviewing family members including the mother of one of the 21 year old driver's children.

She said that everyone knew that 'Josh was the most impatient person. There's no way he would wait for anything' I'm paraphrasing but that was pretty much it.

He also had an expired license too which, while not a criminal act, shows a lack of responsibility and even more poor judgement.
 
There seems to be a small but steady stream of motorists intent on getting themselves killed through reckless driving. I don't know how to stop it; perhaps stronger testing requirements before issuing drivers' licenses; I can't think of anything else.
In this case, quad gates would have stopped them. Maybe longer gates arms to make it more difficult to drive around, if the grade crossing had typical gate arms. The MLive article indicates the driver and occupants were believed to be teenagers or in their early 20s. The follow-up reports will fill in the details, but if they were that young, then chalk it up to reckless youths who thought they could beat the train.
The crossing does have typical gate arms, but it also has a red light.

http://goo.gl/maps/Fe1QJ
 
I am continuously amazed riding the blue water and wolverine how insane drivers and pedestrians are with regards to crossing tracks when the gates are down. Gates that block the entire road are the only option to fix this problem.
 
I am continuously amazed riding the blue water and wolverine how insane drivers and pedestrians are with regards to crossing tracks when the gates are down. Gates that block the entire road are the only option to fix this problem.
That won't fix the pedestrian issue. Also, that crossing is blocked not only by gates but also a red light, which is positioned before the gates. You have to 1) run the red light and then 2) drive around the gates. At some point, it's simply not feasible to protect everything from everyone.
 
That is why above 110 mph impenetrable barriers are required. Something like:

07.jpg


or

3b-new.jpg


One would require a somewhat capable tank to make it past that.
 
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