6 dead, multiple injuries after Jeep, train collide

[penguingrrl]

That's so sad and scary.

[Velar Fricative]

It was an express train so it was moving along pretty fast. I did not realize there were MNR tracks that were at street-level. South of White Plains it would be impossible to drive on tracks IIRC.

Awful.

[redwino]

Very sad.

[ttt]

How does this happen??? Why do people stop on train tracks??

So terrible

[cohmom]

So sad. There are definitely Metro north tracks at street level in westchester and putnam. GPS has been faulted before for things like this before. I remember some type of incident in the not so recent past in that same area.

www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/nyregion/01gps.html?_r=0

Many thoughts for all those souls lost.

[Velar Fricative]

I am getting pissed off at the details about the Jeep driver driving under the gates, stopping on the tracks to get out and check her car after the gates came down on the car, getting back in the car and driving in front of the train. So so SO unnecessary and now 6 and perhaps more people are dead. Fuck, man.

[UMaineTeach]

Feb 3, 2015 22:04:03 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I am getting pissed off at the details about the Jeep driver driving under the gates, stopping on the tracks to get out and check her car after the gates came down on the car, getting back in the car and driving in front of the train. So so SO unnecessary and now 6 and perhaps more people are dead. Fuck, man.

The only thing that saves the driver from a huge judgement is the slim chance that the gate malfunction that was reported and checked was not resolved.

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 3, 2015 22:08:58 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

Feb 3, 2015 22:04:03 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I am getting pissed off at the details about the Jeep driver driving under the gates, stopping on the tracks to get out and check her car after the gates came down on the car, getting back in the car and driving in front of the train. So so SO unnecessary and now 6 and perhaps more people are dead. Fuck, man.

The only thing that saves the driver from a huge judgement is the slim chance that the gate malfunction that was reported and checked was not resolved.

I was reading about that report but I think the report mentioned that it was a different set of gates (though nearby?).

I am also reading conflicting info about the gates being fully down by the time the driver got there. Who the hell knows. At this point either the driver did something incredibly stupid that killed her and others, or the gate malfunctions weren't resolved and someone else is responsible. Either way, totally unnecessary.

[LoveTrains]

Awful.

[MrsAxilla]

That's horrific.

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 4, 2015 7:25:05 GMT -5 @evelynrichards said:

It sounds like the driver was very confused. They interviewed the car behind her, and he just kept saying how dark it was, and how the placement of the gates is confusing. If she had backed up instead of going forward, it would have been ok.

Ugh.

Ugh is right.

I am not familiar with that crossing but if it's dark and confusing I am honestly shocked nothing like this has happened before.

[cohmom]

Things like this have happened before but this time the 3rd rail was displaced and ignited the train. The intersection there is dark there are snow piles everywhere that obscure visibility.

[LoveTrains]

Feb 4, 2015 7:30:00 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Feb 4, 2015 7:25:05 GMT -5 @evelynrichards said:

It sounds like the driver was very confused. They interviewed the car behind her, and he just kept saying how dark it was, and how the placement of the gates is confusing. If she had backed up instead of going forward, it would have been ok.

Ugh.

Ugh is right.

I am not familiar with that crossing but if it's dark and confusing I am honestly shocked nothing like this has happened before.

yes we really need more protected crossings (ie, remove grade crossings) for passenger rail. It is safe and will allow the trains to go faster. 

[downtoearth]

The only long-distance passenger train ride I took (From Chicago out west to Montana and back), we hit one truck and the person had to be medevac-airlifted out of the area. Same train hit another vehicle when my friend took about 5 years later, too. This is too common.

[ttt]

This woman did something incredibly stupid and caused a terrible tragedy. More concerned with the damage to her car than paying attention to WTF was going on around her.

www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ntsb-heads-westchester-investigate-metro-north-crash-article-1.2102750

Brody, 49, a married mother of three, was headed home from work at a Chappaqua jewelry design shop Tuesday when she died in the fiery 6:30 p.m. crash at the Westchester railroad crossing.

The rear of the Edgemont woman’s car was first struck by a gate at the intersection with the Metro-North tracks, and she casually stepped outside to check for damage, a source said.

At that point, her car — though on the wrong side of the gate — was not initially in the path of the oncoming train. But the Mercedes was soon caught in the headlights.

“She got back in her car and for whatever reason went forward a little bit,” the source said. “The train would have missed her by a good 6 or 7 feet.”

[kapoentje]

One of the victims was a longtime curator of European paintings at The Met. He was one of the world's foremost authorities on Dutch & Flemish painting.

[sugarglider]

There are a LOT of train crossings in my hometown, including a switching station. It wasn't until I got to college that I realized the term "railroaded," meaning "to be stopped and delayed because of a train," was a term/definition unique to my hometown.

But because of this, we were taught train safety early and often. I remember some organization brought a train caboose to my elementary school that had been remodeled inside like a children's museum with lots of info on train safety--the big one that stuck out to me was that a train phtsically cannot be stopped in time if you pull into its path. There was some interactive video where you were in the conductor's spot and had to hit the breaks.

In drivers ed (as well as the state driving test), it was an automatic fail if you crossed train tracks without first stopping and looking both directions, regardless if the lights were flashing.

If we're going to have trains cross roads, EVERYONE should be educated on train safety.

[Velar Fricative]

I can't believe driver behind her says he gave her space to move back but doesn't understand why she moved forward instead, because the train would have missed her even if she didn't move the car at all! That is nuts.

So now 6 families are destroyed and one of them is going to literally pay for what happened. It doesn't appear that the train crew did anything wrong but I am wondering about that third rail puncturing the Jeep and train car and whether that's grounds for a lawsuit against the MTA too.

[cohmom]

There were helicopters over the sight all day yesterday I assume doing aerial photography. I am sure there will be a lawsuit. One if the first responders was in my usual coffee place this morning. He seemed to think that the woman could not tell where she was with regard to the track thus why she got out of the car. Again the area is very dark, there are snow piles which are disorienting. Also it seems the police were called earlier in the day to attend a mal functioned gate which isn't all that unusual but you have to wonder if anyone fixed it. Ugh it's all so sad. At the same time there was a head on collision by a taconic wrong way driver in the same general vicinity. It must be so overwhelming for the first responders.

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 5, 2015 7:23:19 GMT -5 cohmom said:

There were helicopters over the sight all day yesterday I assume doing aerial photography. I am sure there will be a lawsuit. One if the first responders was in my usual coffee place this morning. He seemed to think that the woman could not tell where she was with regard to the track thus why she got out of the car. Again the area is very dark, there are snow piles which are disorienting. Also it seems the police were called earlier in the day to attend a mal functioned gate which isn't all that unusual but you have to wonder if anyone fixed it. Ugh it's all so sad. At the same time there was a head on collision by a taconic wrong way driver in the same general vicinity. It must be so overwhelming for the first responders.

I read that the malfunctioning gate was elsewhere, not at that crossing. But I'm sure they'll investigate if there is a relation.

I could understand the darkness and confusion but apparently the warning signals were working (and started going off before the gate came down) so she had to have heard the noises and noticed the lights flashing behind her and not in front of her? Who knows. It's such a tragedy.

[karinothing]

It is hard for me to imagine seeing a train coming and not running away. Even if you can't get your car out of the way, don't you open the door and run like hell. I mean EVEN if it is dark, trains have a light on the front right? I assume the conductor was blowing the horn like crazy too.

I mena obviously I wasn't there I have no clue what happened, but I would just hope I would run away if I saw a train coming! I did learn on the news that if you are stuck and the train is coming you are supposed to run towards the train (like not on the track obviously) but I guess that is the best direction to go to avoid being hit be debries.

[ttt]

I just don't understand how you can not notice the bells and lights that go off at a train track, even in the dark, even if you weren't paying enough attention to see the tracks in the first place.

[cohmom]

There really isn't that much time between when the gates come down and when the train passes. Rush hour there is even less. If she were outside of the car in the intersection for more than 15 seconds she just may have run out of time. Plus panic changes the way the brain works. You would think you'd run like hell but who knows if you could get your legs to work.

[ttt]

Feb 5, 2015 9:12:13 GMT -5 cohmom said:

There really isn't that much time between when the gates come down and when the train passes. Rush hour there is even less. If she were outside of the car in the intersection for more than 15 seconds she just may have run out of time. Plus panic changes the way the brain works. You would think you'd run like hell but who knows if you could get your legs to work.

My question is, why was her very first concern "oh no damage to my car" instead of "oh shit I'm on the train tracks" 

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 5, 2015 9:13:42 GMT -5 ttt said:

Feb 5, 2015 9:12:13 GMT -5 cohmom said:

There really isn't that much time between when the gates come down and when the train passes. Rush hour there is even less. If she were outside of the car in the intersection for more than 15 seconds she just may have run out of time. Plus panic changes the way the brain works. You would think you'd run like hell but who knows if you could get your legs to work.

My question is, why was her very first concern "oh no damage to my car" instead of "oh shit I'm on the train tracks" 

Right. Given that she came out of her car and checked for damages in the back of her car, there was time for her to get out of there. I don't know what was going on in her head and perhaps there was confusion and panic and weird things going on in her mind but the fact of the matter is that 6 people died in such an unnecessary way and their devastated families will have to contend with that forever. That does make me angry at her even though it's pointless because she died too. If the investigators find anything that makes her less at-fault for this then I will change my tune but for now the whole thing just pisses me off.

[ttt]

Feb 5, 2015 9:23:15 GMT -5 @evelynrichards said:

Feb 5, 2015 9:13:42 GMT -5 ttt said:

My question is, why was her very first concern "oh no damage to my car" instead of "oh shit I'm on the train tracks" 

Well, we don't know she got out because of damage to her car. She could have gotten out to see what the hell happened.

But how can you not notice the clanging bells and flashing lights and gate coming down onto your car?? The person behind her said she got out to look at the back of her car and certainly when she got out, she had to have noticed all of that before even going to the back of her car. Why else would she get out and look? 

I am angry that one person's stupidity and carelessness has caused the horrific deaths of so many innocent people. 

[cohmom]

I don't think she was looking at the car for damage. I think possibly she was just trying to figure out where she was and the next move. Idk there was a car behind her. I just think she panicked and lost it. This summer at a similar gate I stopped when I saw the lights but the gate had not come down yet. The person behind me leaned on the horn and drove up to within an inch of my bumper. Finally the gate came down. He got out of his car and screamed at me for stopping. Who knows what happened in this lady's brain. All reports are that she was a kind smart person. Adrenaline plus confusion were fatal.

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 5, 2015 9:29:13 GMT -5 cohmom said:

I don't think she was looking at the car for damage. I think possibly she was just trying to figure out where she was and the next move. Idk there was a car behind her. I just think she panicked and lost it. This summer at a similar gate I stopped when I saw the lights but the gate had not come down yet. The person behind me leaned on the horn and drove up to within an inch of my bumper. Finally the gate came down. He got out of his car and screamed at me for stopping. Who knows what happened in this lady's brain. All reports are that she was a kind smart person. Adrenaline plus confusion were fatal.

I hope you ran over his foot with your car. What a jerk.

[cohmom]

Both my kids and one of the dogs were in the car everyone was trembling. People are weird and aggressive about the gates and "beating them". Seriously its an extra 3 minutes. Chill Westchester chill.

[ttt]

Feb 5, 2015 9:43:11 GMT -5 cohmom said:

Both my kids and one of the dogs were in the car everyone was trembling. People are weird and aggressive about the gates and "beating them". Seriously its an extra 3 minutes. Chill Westchester chill.

This is just so weird to me. I mean, what is the point of following another car onto the tracks where you have to stop so that you can get over the tracks the instant that car moves? It's not an intersection, so nobody is going to get in front of you and take your spot. Just wait - if the train doesn't come, you can go over the tracks as soon as the car in front moves and there's space. And if the train does come, you don't want to be on the $&#!ing tracks!!!