Racing train

[dukedogsmom]

Goes to show just how stupid people can be.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Unfortuneatly, it happens a LOT here. Many people mistakenly think trains go slowly and they don't realize that they can't beat the train. Cargo trains are huge and people don't like waiting up to 20 minutes for a train to go by so they try to beat it.

[crow_noir]

I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often in my area. We have train tracks EVERYWHERE.

A past time of the teens used to be train boarding. You know... running and jumping onto a train when it's moving.

And you DO have a LOT of idiots that try to outrun the trains or pass through the gates before the train comes.

[moosmom]

Crow Noir,

When I lived in Michigan, I DREADED the trains. You'd sit at a crossing for 10-15 minutes while they SLOWLY went by. The first time I encountered a train, I actually counted the cars. The most I had ever seen was 75 cars!!

Lady's Human is right. It happens all too often and it's sad.

That woman wasn't hit by the train she was avoiding, it was the train on the OTHER side that hit her. What in the world was she thinking???

[lady_zana]

I don't drive so I typically take a cab home. Yesterday we had to wait for a train but we missed the beginning of it....my driver told me if he had seen the beginning and had been able to count the engines he could have told me how long it was going to be....three engines meant it could be around a mile and a half long!

I understand no one wants to wait for a train, especially if it's going to be 1 1/2 miles long and I get frustrated too waiting but I would rather be annoyed or ten minutes (or even more) late for work or class than try to beat a train. And yet, the people on here saying how often it happens are right: every day people try to beat the train coming through.....very sad and yet very stupid too, risking your life because of impatiance.

[G535]

They're not only risking their own lives but also the lives of their passengers, the train crew and the train passengers. We had one bad "accident" down here in June where eleven people lost their lives when a truck ran into a passenger train at a level crossing, one a very good friend of mine. I take photos of trains for a rail magazine and I have seen some really stupid behaviour around crossings and rail lines. One photo can't be published because of legal issues but it is of a young woman who just ducked her head and ran across the line in front of a moving train, she didn't want to be late for work!

[mike001]

I didn't follow the story because it disgusted me so much. I didn't realize the mother had died. Sheer lunacy to try to beat a train, what are those people thinking? If they don't value their lives they shouldn't kill or endanger others along with themselves. Still boggles my mind that someone would be so stupid.