Duh. A truck driver in Montgomery managed to collide with a CSX train in an industrial part of Montgomery this morning, even though the train was moving at 5mph. Let me repeat. 5 mph.
Just how distracted do you have to be to drive your truck into a train moving that slowly? Of course the TV news reports on the accident focused on the fact that there are no flashing lights or automatic crossing gates to block the intersection when those trains come barreling through at 5 mph.
An experiment. The next time you go driving, see if you can even DRIVE THAT SLOW! I think I can walk faster than that. If a car was driving toward me at that speed, I could jump out of the way a second before it hit me! Forget the flashing lights and automatic warning gates and sirens and all. When a train is moving that slowly, there's no excuse for hitting it...except perhaps being literally asleep at the wheel. (And yes, that is the correct usage of literally.)
An experiment. The next time you go driving, see if you can even DRIVE THAT SLOW! I think I can walk faster than that. If a car was driving toward me at that speed, I could jump out of the way a second before it hit me! Forget the flashing lights and automatic warning gates and sirens and all. When a train is moving that slowly, there's no excuse for hitting it...except perhaps being literally asleep at the wheel. (And yes, that is the correct usage of literally.)
Yeah, sure... it's stoopid, to be certain.
ReplyDeleteBut... See?
Dumb things STILL happen!
If we had high-speed, monorail mag-lev trains, collisions like this would be a thing of the past!
That's because they're elevated!
Choo-choo trains... choo-choo trains... choo-choo trains... choo-choo trains...
The days of Cowboys and Indians are over. It's time to move into the 21st century!
Deaths on America's roadways are commonplace. I believe the latest statistics are very nearly 40,000 deaths annually, according to NHTSA.
That works out to about 100/day... or 2 per state per day.
Not sure exactly what percentage of those represent train v motor vehicle, however.
But they'd virtually be eliminated if elevated mag-lev monorail trains were available.