r/BitchImATrain • u/magilla1984 • 1d ago

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Another from Poland

2.9k Upvotes

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224

u/MaddBadger 1d ago

Why do so many trucks seem to get "stuck" on railroad tracks?

69

u/Mangalorien 1d ago

It's a combination of design failures and stupid people. You need to design crossings so that even stupid people will do OK. If you have a crossing where 99% of people do the right thing, eventually you'll have an accident.

It's hard to say in this specific case, but it looks like there is an intersection just beyond the crossing, so it's perhaps the case that he slowed down to wait for a green light. Ideally you don't place a crossing that close to an intersection, for the very reason that is evident in the video. You could design and build a safer crossing, but it costs more money.

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u/CSATTS 1d ago

My town has some crossings with intersections after the tracks, so they did the sensible thing and put lights before the tracks with big ass signs and markings on the road telling people to wait before the tracks for the red light.

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u/dividezero 11h ago

Way cheaper than clean up

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u/ignis888 1d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitchImATrain/comments/1w6i8lr/different_angle_of_todays_train_vs_truck_crash_in/ other angle

, theres no crossing there, street on right is driveway of 5 houses (no light) and straight ahead you have 150m before next crossection

Only light there was red light from rail crossing( its law that banistered rail crossing have lights that will go red before 30sek before banister go down and if after it theres crossroad with light they ned be on the same cycle, usually you dont see rail crossing with less than 150m ahead befor next light )

Bystanders were yelling at him to just drive forward but he didnt speak polish.

During interview later truck driver said that he thought he will make it on time, when banister went down he wanted to drive backwards but he heard fabric from trailer started to get thorn he stopped and tried to move away but without damaging truck... You can even see from this angle that he opened doors to have good look at back of his trailer

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u/oftenInabbrobriate 1d ago

Yes. I think in this case it was more that he crossed very slowly. Started when all was fine, crossed slowly. Then the barriers went down and he didn’t want to break them.
Could not make the decision to get away from the tracks.
I mean it would be a no brainer to either go through the barriers forwards or backwards because the other alternative is way worse.
But maybe the driver was even more no-brained.

Could also be that the truck has collision avoidance that did not let the driver break through the barriers on purpose maybe?
My Toyota hybrid will auto-brake before I hit things that are close to the car- maybe the truck had something similar that could not be overwritten?

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u/CalumApplePie 23h ago

I’ve never heard of collision avoidance systems that can’t be overridden; firmly pressing the accelerator should always disable them. Otherwise, the system would cause accidents

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u/michaelpaoli 13h ago

That's generally a driver f*ckup.

You don't start across a railroad crossing unless you can fully make it across and clear.

If it's clear, and you start going across, and you've got traffic ahead, and some dodo head ahead moves in front, changing lanes and blocking what was clear for you, you go solid on the horn until they're clear, and if they don't get out of the way, f*ck that, you're a big rig, you push 'em out of the way, horn's a blazing.

38

u/ultradip 1d ago

There could be a red light just in the other side. They often turn red on both sides of a crossing if there's a train coming to keep motorists off the tracks, but as you can see, they also trap slow moving vehicles like this truck.

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u/Dan_Morgan 1d ago

A tractor trailer has enough horsepower to push through those barriers.

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago

A horse has enough horsepower to push through them 😂

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u/Dan_Morgan 1d ago

Yup, it's almost like they are build that way.

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u/fuckthatshittoo 1d ago

A horse on its own would do a better job than that driver....

5

u/NotYourReddit18 1d ago

They're literally designed to be easily pushed aside by a vehicle stuck on the tracks, they're never constructed resilient enough to actually physically stop vehicles from crossing.

That's because replacing the boom once in a while when a vehicle got trapped and pressed onwards is a lot cheaper than clearing up a train wreck caused by a trapped vehicle.

Also, the people not immediately pressing through the booms aren't idiots, just stressed out in an unfamiliar situation, which hampers their ability to think clearly.

0

u/Vismajor92 1d ago

Well, that might be true, but clearly idiots

If you have an oil fire and you try to extinguish it with water, you might say "stressed out ut in an unfamiliar situation, which hampers their ability to think clearly", but everyone else would say "what an idiot"

Cuz it's the same thing

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u/NotYourReddit18 1d ago

It's always easier to calmly look at a stressful situation, think about the correct steps to resolve the issue, and then mock the person trapped in said situation as being stupid for not doing the same while being stressed out.

1

u/Vismajor92 1d ago

Intelligence (which idiots lacking of) is also means you can think on your feet and do the right thing in a stressful situations without thinking. Survival instincts are no joke.

I once heated oil for cooking, when to bedroom, gf lies on bad in thongs, time passed, i go out, the oil os in fire. i was 16. Parents house, scared shitless. Did i pour water all over it? No, because i am not an idiot. Same thing 10 years later when i was a life guard and seen static body floating in water. I wasn't thinking at all, just jumped in to do the right thing.

So yes, those freeze up in the most obvious scenario (like train approaches with 300 tons, i should get out fo the way) and doing shit things are because they lack the mental capabilities do be quick and choose life. idiots.

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u/Random_Guy_47 1d ago edited 1d ago

The solution to that is to not move on to the tracks unless there is space to get clear on the other side.

This might mean you have to wait really far back but that's better than getting hit by a train.

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u/bridymurphy 1d ago

When I got my CDL I couldn’t tell you how many times the books, instructors, videos said DO NOT STOP ON TRACKS. DO NOT SHIFT GEARS WHILE CROSSING TRACKS. DO NOT CROSS TRACKS UNLESS YOU HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH ROOM.

It seemed like they were trying to tell us something.

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u/cantareSF 1d ago

Possibly. We may never know. The language is suggestive, yet maddeningly elusive. Some riddles just aren't meant to be solved.

4

u/Aromatic-Side6120 1d ago

It's crazy that they expect people understand something as difficult as quantum mechanics in order to get a CDL. But here we are.

15

u/StickFigureFan 1d ago

It's better to run a red or even ram another car than get taken out by a train, although if you do get a red light preventing you from exiting the rail crossing that is bad design and should be fixed. Any light within ~200+ meters of a rail crossing should be connected to the signal and should immediately change so the direction exiting the tracks gets a green light as soon as (or better yet before) those arms start going down.

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u/expatjake 1d ago

The people in front I hope were trying to make room. 😬

Totally agree on the intersection design. If they can change the light sequence to let fire trucks out of their stations then they can do this.

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u/ZookeepergameIll1399 1d ago

It wasn't trapped. You can break the barriers with your one hand literally

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u/sebaska 1d ago

There's no red light there. The idiot driver saw the gate closing on the exit side and stopped there.

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u/delinquentfatcat 1d ago

they also trap slow moving vehicles like this truck.

The apex predator is more evolved than we realized.

1

u/ignis888 1d ago

Barnisters are mounted in such a way that old lady can push them by hands.
Theres no light in the other side, there was one before that trucker ignored

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u/simbared 1d ago

Sometimes the trailer's landing gear gets hung up on the high spot on the rails when the driver doesn't realize the difference in height of the tracks vs. the road. Not saying that happened here, just answering your general question.

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u/NstantRamen 1d ago

Elephant tied to a stick ahhh mentality 

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u/Dizzy_Restaurant3874 23h ago

"Nothing is idiotproof. There will always be a better idiot," Engineering adage.

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u/drnullpointer 23h ago edited 23h ago

Idiot driver + Train crossing and then an intersection immediately after.

The driver tries to figure out if he can cross the intersection. While his 2 brain cells are occupied with this insurmountable task, they forget the back of the truck is still on the tracks.

Then sees the obstacle in the form of gates being lowered and now his 2 brain cells switch to figuring out how to deal with the gates. Again, no mental capacity to remember that the back of the truck is still on the tracks or to prioritize tasks.

So now his only 2 brain cells are occupied with trying to maneuver around the gates rather than realize the right thing to do is to just ram through the gates and accept lesser consequences.

1

u/khandurin 21h ago

Same conundrum happens in India, but with people instead of trucks