On Jan 14, 12:58*pm, Ignoramus3181
wrote:
...
It was dark, I was tired, the train was slow, and I did not notice
it passing in front of me. I had about 1 year of experience driving.
....
i

An article in the paper here some years ago wondered why so many
people drove into slow trains at crossings.

So I watched. The ribbed wall of a boxcar looks very much like the
ribbed siding on a warehouse. If you swing your head to check the side
mirror for another car trying to sneak around the motion of the train
isn't that evident. The wheels don't have spokes, which are what I use
to detect a car creeping forward to jump into the intersection.

What's even stranger is that you can walk into an elephant. Unless you
see the outline their nondescript skin texture blends in and their
long legs look like posts or tree trunks.

I didn't actually walk into it but got within maybe 20 meters. It was
at an animal park that had been closed and empty for several years. I
smelled the beast from a distance and approached carefully upwind. It
was chained under a canopy that obscured the upper outline.

I had read John Taylor's story of smacking into one he was hunting in
thick brush and wanted to see how far away I could spot it. We see
shape with our sharp central vision and motion with the rest, and a
stationary elephant or slow-moving train against a cluttered
background may not immediately trigger either one. I can catch sight
of a chipmunk further away because they trigger both.

jsw