Kids killed as mom tries to go through train crossing

[AmtrakBlue]

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130403/NEWS/130403008/Kids-killed-mom-tries-go-through-train-crossing

 

[Ryan]

Accidents like these where innocent passengers are killed are the worst.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Ditto!

 

[fairviewroad]

The train crew must be devastated. Not their fault at all, of course.

And yes, the mother is surely devastated too. Yes, it's her fault. Yes, she should probably be criminally charged...but

she is at the end of the day a mother who lost two of her children because of her negligence and will have to live with

that knowledge for the rest of her life.

 

[DET63]

I have mixed feelings here. I understand that the woman did a dumb thing, but did she believe that the crossing signals had been activated, and remained activated, by the stopped train? That sometimes happens, meaning that people could conceivably be waiting for a train that is not coming (or is not going to come immediately, or at least not without an additional warning). She may have decided that the gates were down for the stopped train, and that--after waiting for the crew change to be completed, and for the train to get going again--another 10-15 minutes could pass.

Even assuming the second train sounded its horn properly, was the mother able to hear it over the bells from the crossing signal?

Could the crew change have taken place at another location so that (impatient) motorists would not have to wait for what they thought was only a train that stopped close to the crossing?

From the article linked in the OP:

Sue Kaufmann, whose house borders the railroad crossing, said she sees drivers go around the crossing arms all the time.
 
"A couple days before this happened, I saw a guy go around the things, and right after he got through, you could hear the train whistling," Kaufmann said.
 
"I've just been hoping that something like this didn't happen."
 
The intersection has been the scene of two previous vehicle/train accidents since 1975, according to federal data.

Given the conditions and circumstances, I'm surprised there haven't been a lot more accidents there in the past 38 years.

 

[Texan Eagle]

I have mixed feelings here. I understand that the woman did a dumb thing, but did she believe that the crossing signals had been activated, and remained activated, by the stopped train? That sometimes happens, meaning that people could conceivably be waiting for a train that is not coming (or is not going to come immediately, or at least not without an additional warning). She may have decided that the gates were down for the stopped train, and that--after waiting for the crew change to be completed, and for the train to get going again--another 10-15 minutes could pass.

I am not sure what is the procedure where this accident happened, but here in Mountain View, California on the Caltrain line, the crossing gates do not stay down for stopped trains. Mountain View station is just a few hundred feet from a road crossing. When a train is approaching the station from the far side (non crossing side) the gates go down as a precaution just in case the train did not stop at the station and continued further. Once the train has come to a complete stop, the gates open and stay open as long as the train is stopped at the station. Once the train starts, the gates go down again, train crosses the crossing, gates open again. This way motorists do not have to wait at closed gates for the entire length of the time that the train is stopped at the station.

PS: I believe the same thing is followed at the accident site too. Page 2 of the article mentions a resident say that she had driven through the crossing earlier when the parked train was still there but gates were up. So yeah, the gates come down not for the stopped train, only when there is actually a train crossing and you need to stay out. Moral of the story- don't be impatient. If the gates are down, STAY THE F**K OUT OF THE WAY!

 

[DET63]

The procedure at Mountain View station also applies at Martinez, CA, AFAIK. The gates cry wolf if a train is approaching, but if the train stops, the gates go up, the bells stop ringing and the lights stop flashing. Then, when the train starts to move, the signals and gates are again activated.

If this was the procedure at the site of the accident, was the mother aware of it? Given that it's a busy rail line, the only crossing in town, etc., one would think she would have been aware of the procedure, but the ignorance of people about relatively simple stuff like this sometimes amazes me.