Transportation safety 2

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Message 1643607 - Posted: 18 Feb 2015, 6:24:11 UTC - in response to Message 1643601.  


Other railroads...




Holy cow! That can't be an in-service train track.

It is, look at the rail head, no rust hardly.
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Message 1643610 - Posted: 18 Feb 2015, 6:36:47 UTC - in response to Message 1643607.  

Holy cow! That can't be an in-service train track.

It is, look at the rail head, no rust hardly.



I see what you mean, but that is absolutely nuts.
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Message 1643632 - Posted: 18 Feb 2015, 7:46:39 UTC - in response to Message 1643610.  
Last modified: 18 Feb 2015, 7:47:17 UTC

Holy cow! That can't be an in-service train track.

It is, look at the rail head, no rust hardly.



I see what you mean, but that is absolutely nuts.

Yep, it is indeed.

Derailment paradice. Careful it could come up, snake eyes..
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Message 1644089 - Posted: 19 Feb 2015, 15:03:41 UTC

With the amount of cyclists on the roads today, I think it's time that it becomes compulsory training...

still got mine

...now it's been renamed to "Bikeability"

Level 3

Level 3 covers dealing with hazards, making ‘on-the-move’ risk assessments and planning routes for safer cycling.

Once you’ve completed your Bikeability Level 3 and been awarded your green badge, you’ll be able to cycle almost anywhere, and:

Make a trip to school, work or elsewhere on any roads

Use complex junctions and road features such as roundabouts, multi-lane roads and traffic lights

Understand driver blind spots

Know how (and when) to pass queuing traffic


Identify and react to hazardous road surfaces

Plan your route

Interpret road signs

Cyclist killed

One of the pieces of instruction given on my course was:-

When turning left, allow all large vehicles to turn 1st, never, ever cycle on the inside of a large vehicle.
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Message 1644137 - Posted: 19 Feb 2015, 17:17:20 UTC

...hazard spotting.

To be allowed to drive a company car we've all had to take a very simple test. Computer based, a few basic questions about the highway code, and a simple hazard spotting exercise. All but one of us passed, the only one to fail was our "rampant cyclist" - he failed on the highway code and the hazard spotting - he missed the car door that was opening, and the narrowing gap between a lorry and a crash barrier. Result is he can't use a company car... Worryingly some of the highway code questions he got wrong were to do with riding bikes.
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Message 1644162 - Posted: 19 Feb 2015, 18:19:59 UTC - in response to Message 1644137.  

Worryingly some of the highway code questions he got wrong were to do with riding bikes.

& a hell of a lot of cyclists go rampant when that is pointed out to them. Had one in Cambridge who stopped his verbiage suddenly when he spotted my badge..

...asked how long have I been cycling...

...when told 40 years (in 2009), looked at me then my artic...

...asked how long I've been driving HGV's...

...35 years...

...cycled off very slowly, & on entering my cab, saw him look back. Hopefully, he learnt a lesson that day, but personally, where Cambridge is concerned, I very much doubt that.
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Message 1644617 - Posted: 20 Feb 2015, 19:42:40 UTC

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/two-passenger-trains-collide-in-switzerland-slideshow/rescue-men-firemen-derailed-train-accident-rafz-canton-photo-094117987.html
Two passenger trains collided in Switzerland on Friday, causing injuries and disrupting commuter routes into Zurich, police and rail operator SBB said.

One of the trains derailed in the accident in Rafz, a small town near the German border around 30 km (18 miles) from Zurich, at 6:45 a.m., Zurich cantonal police said. Five people were injured, one of them seriously, it said.

Newspaper 20 Minuten had earlier cited a member of the emergency services as saying as many as 49 people were thought to have been hurt.

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Message 1645692 - Posted: 23 Feb 2015, 19:54:30 UTC - in response to Message 1643610.  

Holy cow! That can't be an in-service train track.

It is, look at the rail head, no rust hardly.



I see what you mean, but that is absolutely nuts.

Yes, but oil trains don't go barreling down track like that at 50 MPH. In fact, I doubt any hazmat is carried on that track. My best guess is that the main or only thing carried on it is grain, and at 10 MPH or less.

BTW, while the media immediately started jumping on the fact that many tank cars still in service carrying oil are an outdated design that is less safe than the current standard, it turns out that the cars in the CSX wreck were the new "safe" design. Last I heard, they were looking at whether gas came out of the oil and pressurized itself at the top of the car, causing the explosions.

While the railroads do see oil as a great source of revenue, they are understandably cautious about their liability exposure from these incidents. (And, I'm sure, happy that no one was killed this time.)
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Message 1645794 - Posted: 24 Feb 2015, 0:06:03 UTC

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/23/man-struck-and-killed-by-train-while-posing-for-photo/
A man posing for a photo in front of a moving train in Oregon on Saturday was struck and killed by another train that he didn’t notice heading in the other direction, police say.

The man was traveling on a Tacoma-to-Portland road trip with a woman when they stopped at train tracks along the Kalama River to smoke and take pictures, police told The Oregonian.

When a northbound train passed the area, the man "walked out between the northbound and southbound set of train tracks to pose for pictures as the train passed by him," Cowlitz County Sheriff's Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig said.

The two didn’t realize another Amtrak train was approaching in the southbound tracks and the man was struck and killed while posing for a photo, Rosenzweig added.

The man – whose identity is being withheld until his family is notified – died at the scene while the woman was unharmed, The Oregonian reports.

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Message 1645936 - Posted: 24 Feb 2015, 10:34:54 UTC - in response to Message 1645933.  

struck and killed by another train that he didn’t notice heading in the other direction

The two didn’t realize another Amtrak train was approaching in the southbound tracks

Don't oncoming trains sound horns and make noises???


My neighborhood is a "no-blow". They aren't passenger trains, but they're trains nonetheless, and from time to time, somebody gets hit. I'm not sure actually though that a horn would help stop that, because a lot of people amble around in a trance-like daze.
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Message 1646087 - Posted: 24 Feb 2015, 22:21:17 UTC

I wouldn't be too sure that a "quick blow" would stop all those who amble cross crossings without a care - we have barriers, bells, lights, warbles and still folks insist on crossing, or should that be start to cross - too many of them end up finding that catching a train with ones anatomy is not as pleasant an experience as waiting for one at a station...
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Message 1646090 - Posted: 24 Feb 2015, 22:24:07 UTC

Over a decade ago, I got reprimanded for refusing to work with 3 drivers. 1 was an unrepentant alcoholic, the other 2 couldn't get through the day without toting up.

Just over a year after that reprimand, the alcoholic & 1 druggie was dismissed after rolling their truck at the A1 slip road to Stamford. Tests revealed that the driver, the alcoholic was 2x over the limit & this was approx. 7 hours after a boozing binge the night before.

It's about time that the driving laws were tightened to such a degree that many will think twice before drinking or toting up...

Salesman ploughs into bus stop

...maybe it'll prevent more of these sad incidents!

"The sales representative also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and admitted failing to provide a blood sample following the crash."

More than likely because of the drugs/booze in his blood!
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Message 1646210 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 4:27:21 UTC - in response to Message 1646087.  

I wouldn't be too sure that a "quick blow" would stop all those who amble cross crossings without a care - we have barriers, bells, lights, warbles and still folks insist on crossing, or should that be start to cross - too many of them end up finding that catching a train with ones anatomy is not as pleasant an experience as waiting for one at a station...


I agree. That's why I say the tracks seem to lure some people into a trance like fog, or maybe it's the other way around, lol. ;~/
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Message 1646239 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 6:11:39 UTC

I'm with Sirius on the changes to the drink driving laws.
On two grounds - my late fiancée and a young lady I worked with. One killed be a drunk driver. The other arrived in a Police cell instead of work having been out for a "normal" evening's drinking/ the night before, 9am and x3 the limit and she called it "normal"!!!!!!
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Message 1646288 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 8:02:06 UTC - in response to Message 1646087.  

I wouldn't be too sure that a "quick blow" would stop all those who amble cross crossings without a care - we have barriers, bells, lights, warbles and still folks insist on crossing, or should that be start to cross - too many of them end up finding that catching a train with ones anatomy is not as pleasant an experience as waiting for one at a station...

My hobby as a "railfan" has seen me join a site that has several "railcams" located at different places in the US one in patricular is in Chesterton IN and looks down on a grade crossing



As you can see a very good view. The trains here are nearly all very long freights that would not be able to stop quickly, yet everyday I see cars and in one case a truck, driving around the barriers.

Even in one case a pedestrian walked right up to the side of a speeding freight waiting to cross.

I don't believe the average person appreciates the real dangers of rail crossings and railways in general
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Message 1646295 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 8:16:43 UTC - in response to Message 1646288.  

I wouldn't be too sure that a "quick blow" would stop all those who amble cross crossings without a care - we have barriers, bells, lights, warbles and still folks insist on crossing, or should that be start to cross - too many of them end up finding that catching a train with ones anatomy is not as pleasant an experience as waiting for one at a station...

My hobby as a "railfan" has seen me join a site that has several "railcams" located at different places in the US one in patricular is in Chesterton IN and looks down on a grade crossing



As you can see a very good view. The trains here are nearly all very long freights that would not be able to stop quickly, yet everyday I see cars and in one case a truck, driving around the barriers.

Even in one case a pedestrian walked right up to the side of a speeding freight waiting to cross.

I don't believe the average person appreciates the real dangers of rail crossings and railways in general

Not true. The average person does respect what can happen. Its the dolts in the world who dont.
[/quote]

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Message 1646409 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 12:02:46 UTC - in response to Message 1646372.  

Have to agree that the laws themselves are good, but the problem is that the sentencing is too damned lenient!

Drink/drugs driving?
Dangerous driving?

Automatic 5 year ban for both.

Cause of death by driving? automatic lifetime ban & stuff the claim that you'll lose your livelihood, you took a life, go stack shelves at Tesco's!
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Message 1646451 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 14:46:33 UTC - in response to Message 1646409.  

Have to agree that the laws themselves are good, but the problem is that the sentencing is too damned lenient!

Drink/drugs driving?
Dangerous driving?

Automatic 5 year ban for both.

Cause of death by driving? automatic lifetime ban & stuff the claim that you'll lose your livelihood, you took a life, go stack shelves at Tesco's!


Might work in Europe, but in North America we have built a society so reliant on private cars that the sentences you are suggesting approach capital punishment. Our local equivalent of Tesco's may be an hour or more walk from your house, with little or no public transit and poor or non-existent sidewalks. Add in a Canadian winter and you have capital punishment.

The long term answer is better education. And better public transit.

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Message 1646456 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 14:52:42 UTC

Bernie, the problem with level crossings is the adaptability and learning speed of humans. We have two main lines going through our downtown, each with several level crossings. The railways try to keep long trains out of the downtown during rush hours, but s**t happens. I often see what you have described, and a few times have seen pedestrians climb OVER stopped trains at level crossings. The majority get away with this, and it becomes "normal practice" for them.

Adaptability extends to our reaction to deaths at crossings. We average 2 to 3 per year here in town, and the local papers may not even report it, if there is more "interesting" stuff to report that day. If it does get covered, it may just be a single paragraph buried deep in the back of the paper. It is just like car accident deaths: it's not "news" anymore.

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Message 1646461 - Posted: 25 Feb 2015, 15:10:15 UTC - in response to Message 1646451.  

The long term answer is better education. And better public transit.

How do you perceive long term better education?

The UK started clamping down on drink driving in the early 70's - that's 40 years - too short a term?
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