![maryinstereo:
One of my greatest and dumbest fears is sitting on train tracks in a car and getting hit by a train. The Olde Cape Cod railroad doesn’t run too much anymore, so it’s pretty rare that you’d get hit by a train.
But I refuse to sit on the tracks, I’ll have the car behind them when in traffic, much to the dismay of the people behind me.
My dad is a different animal. So, he didn’t seem to care that there was A TRAIN A COMIN’.
Luckily, it was just the cape cod dinner train or whatever, so we were safe. It was crawling. But, still!
Apart from it being illegal to enter a level crossing when vehicles prevent you from clearing the crossing it is utterly dangerous. Your fear isn’t totally dumb since level crossing collisions are three times more likely to result in a fatality than other road collisions [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17831/].
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in its “Monograph of Level Crossing Accidents” reviewed 87 fatal crashes at level crossings nationally between 1988 and 1998 and found:
railway crossing crashes made up no more than 1% of fatal road crashes in any one year;
the point of impact was more often the front of the train rather than the side (66%);
most of the accidents occurred in daylight (83%);
most occurred in fine weather (85%) ie. a dry road;
most occurred on a straight (89%) and level (77%) road;
most occurred in a rural area (67%);
most occurred at railway crossings with active protection (51%) [10% with boom gates, 41 % another type of active warning system]; and
drivers over the age of 60 were over-represented in railway crossing crashes than in other fatal road crashes (26% as compared to 10%).
Unintended driver error was more common in level crossing crashes than in other fatal road crashes (46% compared with 22% of other fatal road crashes). The influence of alcohol or drugs was less common as was the influence of excessive speed.
Source: http://www.levelcrossings.nsw.gov.au/statistics.htm
As far as I’m concerned anyone who thinks it’s okay to sit on the railway (however briefly) fails at life.
I don’t recall looking after a level crossing collision patient however I have experience with some very nasty road trauma cases. I understand the clinical implications and that’s if the patient makes it to the ward instead of the mortuary. If you’re really unlucky modern medicine may save you from death and you will get to be a vegetable for the rest of your unnatural life.
Anyone still not cognisant of the moronic nature of sitting on railway tracks should watch this video of a staged level crossing collision involving a locomotive and a Renault Espaz (tumblr users click through):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpD06P7kiI
This public health message brought to you by Lyall.](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpq0n4QrKA1qza1sto1_500.jpg)
One of my greatest and dumbest fears is sitting on train tracks in a car and getting hit by a train. The Olde Cape Cod railroad doesn’t run too much anymore, so it’s pretty rare that you’d get hit by a train.
But I refuse to sit on the tracks, I’ll have the car behind them when in traffic, much to the dismay of the people behind me.
My dad is a different animal. So, he didn’t seem to care that there was A TRAIN A COMIN’.
Luckily, it was just the cape cod dinner train or whatever, so we were safe. It was crawling. But, still!
Apart from it being illegal to enter a level crossing when vehicles prevent you from clearing the crossing it is utterly dangerous. Your fear isn’t totally dumb since level crossing collisions are three times more likely to result in a fatality than other road collisions [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17831/].
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in its “Monograph of Level Crossing Accidents” reviewed 87 fatal crashes at level crossings nationally between 1988 and 1998 and found:
- railway crossing crashes made up no more than 1% of fatal road crashes in any one year;
- the point of impact was more often the front of the train rather than the side (66%);
- most of the accidents occurred in daylight (83%);
- most occurred in fine weather (85%) ie. a dry road;
- most occurred on a straight (89%) and level (77%) road;
- most occurred in a rural area (67%);
- most occurred at railway crossings with active protection (51%) [10% with boom gates, 41 % another type of active warning system]; and
- drivers over the age of 60 were over-represented in railway crossing crashes than in other fatal road crashes (26% as compared to 10%).
Unintended driver error was more common in level crossing crashes than in other fatal road crashes (46% compared with 22% of other fatal road crashes). The influence of alcohol or drugs was less common as was the influence of excessive speed.
As far as I’m concerned anyone who thinks it’s okay to sit on the railway (however briefly) fails at life.
I don’t recall looking after a level crossing collision patient however I have experience with some very nasty road trauma cases. I understand the clinical implications and that’s if the patient makes it to the ward instead of the mortuary. If you’re really unlucky modern medicine may save you from death and you will get to be a vegetable for the rest of your unnatural life.
Anyone still not cognisant of the moronic nature of sitting on railway tracks should watch this video of a staged level crossing collision involving a locomotive and a Renault Espaz (tumblr users click through):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpD06P7kiI
This public health message brought to you by Lyall.
