*blows air*

[kyburg]

Witnesses told police that they saw the couple shouting at each other inside a 2005 Dodge Magnum that was waiting at the crossing for the oncoming Lancaster-bound train, which was filled with about 125 passengers, to pass. Suddenly, Sands said, the man pulled his car into the opposing lane of traffic, sped past two other waiting cars and the crossing gate, and parked on the tracks.

Some witnesses told police that Funches appeared to have jumped out of the Dodge just as the train hit the vehicle. But police believe that he was ejected from the car when the train hit it -- perhaps while trying to leave the vehicle. The impact sent metal debris flying, with some of the pieces fatally wounding Funches, Sands said.

Detectives believe that Funches placed the car on the tracks with the passenger side facing the train in hopes of killing his girlfriend.

Some days, karma IS a bitch. This time, nobody else died except the dumbass.

You have to feel for the engineers who drive trains - they say if you do it for more than ten years, you have to deal with at least one person stepping right in front of you - and there's nothing you can do.

Comments

[the-paulr.livejournal.com]

Favorite quote from the article: "Your car is to a train what a soda can is to your car." Oh yeah.

[callibr8]

Even if the dumbass is the only one who died, he managed to do so in such a way as to seriously inconvenience a lot of other people (train engineer and passengers, firefighters), *and* endanger the life of his girlfriend. Seems like there's more karma he oughta owe, than what he's paid.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

My maternal uncle is a many-years-veteran of driving trains, and I think your estimate may be on the low side. Possibly for vehicle accidents alone; it certainly doesn't cover pedestrians and suicides. "Suicide by train" is like "suicide by cop" in some areas, and people don't always realize it's "suicide by train driver" as well.

I think those numbers are about right for eighteen-wheeler drivers, though, who face similar problems as the driver of something to which your car is a tin can.

My uncle's current job is to travel all around the Midwest dealing with crossing safety issues for his company, and trying to get more crossings upgraded or better yet, closed. People don't want their crossings regulated with lights and signs, much less totally closed, even when people get killed - but the days when a freight train stopped (or could stop) for every level crossing dirt track are long gone.

Glad she survived so far; hope she makes it out the other side okay.

[readwrite.livejournal.com]

A friend who used to work for the AAA gave me a great 15-min. traffic-safety video, "Dangerous Crossings," with a good bit of footage of people trying to beat trains, and losing. One of them is a semi, and it, like all the other vehicles, gets totally creamed. As I learned in the video, a train takes a long time to stop. Even if the engineer puts the brakes on full and throws the throttle into full reverse, he can't come close to stopping if a car suddenly appears in front off the train. People think it's like another car, which might actually be able to stop or at least slow down if you suddenly pull in front of it, but it's not.

[fallofrain.livejournal.com]

My VERY ex husband pulled a stunt like that, only he did it to me in rush hour traffic with oncoming cars rather than a train. Thankfully he pulled out at the very last moment instead of getting me/us killed.

And he wonders why I left him. I feel for the girlfriend, and I'm glad she survived.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I was riding a city bus at twilight, once, one of few passengers, and in the front seat next to the door, when a teenager (I assume) wearing black pants and a black hoodie and riding a little bike leapt his bike off the curb and into the street in front of the bus, rode fast across the two lanes, then bounced over the planted median, crossed the other side, and vanished. He probably landed his bike maybe 13-15 feet in front of the bus, which was going at about 25 mph. The driver hit his brakes but it was irrelevant, the kid was just flying.

The driver just said, "Thing is, if I'd have hit him, it would have been my fault, and if I'd killed him, I would go my whole life knowing I'd killed him, but there wasn't a thing I could have done to stop it, if he'd fallen off his bike right there."