Friday, May 06, 2011

Cars and Trains

Railway crossing
We hear so much about cars (and other vehicles) losing the race with trains. I don't understand it. I know trains can be a pain when they are in your way, and the temptation is there to "beat" the train to the crossing. The problem is that 9 out of 10 times you will win, but when you lose... you lose badly.

I`ve been fortunate in that I have not seen a train accident, but I have seen a few near misses. Back in 2005 when the VIA Veteran Train was running, a bunch of us were waiting at the Onslow crossing just outside Truro, NS for the train to come. As the train approached, a taxi drove around the lowered gates and through the crossing.

I never noticed it at the time but it was on the video I was taking. Unfortunately I could not make out the cab company from the video.

That is just a small example. This year (2011) there have been 49 crossing collisions recorded in Canada to date. Last year there were 180 for the year. That is way too many.

Please... be careful at railway crossings.

2 comments:

Adam said...

I've seen so many people dodge the railway gates, it's just silly. I always fear that people being stupid will ruin any chance for high speed rail in this country.
Adam
http://walkerweb.ca/blog

Blair Ivey said...

Walking on the way to school I saw a train take off the rear bumper of a car. The driver hadn't done anything wrong; in fact tried to get clear of the crossing, but the geometry wasn't in their favor. That crossing has since been shut down.