Hit by a train at a level crossing

[What About The Bee]

The Union Pacific video

UP has a strong commitment to safety.  They put these videos out for a reason.

Bee

[Going Spare]

A car was hit by a SouthEastern emu on a semi-rural level crossing this afternoon not 10 miles away from me.  The collision badly damaged the nearside and rear of the car but, fortunately, no injuries were sustained as it is reported that no-one was in the car and the train was probably not travelling fast as it stopped across the crossing.  The crossing is protected by automatic lifting half barriers but is situated between reverse curves on the railway and at the foot of a hill on one side with a sharp bend in the narrow road leading on to the crossing.  Photographs, however, suggest the car had been travelling in the opposite direction and, for whatever reason, did not clear the tracks in time, being hit at its rear nearside corner and spun through 180 degrees.  The crossing was reopened after three hours.   

[What About The Bee]

In the UP video, you can see

1) the inside of the cab of the locomotive 

2) the view in front of the locomotive

What you may not realize is that these are time stamped, so that they may be synchronized later.  

Further, dozens of engine control settings are recorded, also time stamped.  Some of those data points are recorded as frequently as 2Hz or every ½ second.  

Since memory is cheap, and locomotives are expensive, the recording of all this video and data goes back HOURS before incident.  The data is stored in what is essentially a sealed black box.  

Every incident is examined, in gory detail. 

UP does not play around with safety.

Bee

[What About The Bee]

2 hours ago, Going Spare said:

no injuries were sustained as it is reported that no-one was in the car

I certainly do not know how strong the gates are in the UK.  

Here in the US,  gates are actually breakaway gates.  A car can break through them, if desired.  We do not want to trap people, so press that gas pedal.  Abandoning your car, like the one related by GS, is incredibly dumb.  Yes, they saved their life BUT they traded dent repair for a totally scrapped car.  First try to break the gate.  If that fails, then abandon the car.

The chassis and frame will be twisted like a pretzel.  Enough force to spin it around is enough force to bend steel.  Unfixable, unless the car is to drive like a crab.

Bee