On 2010-01-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:
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.

Very interesting.

In my case, admittedly, I could pay more attention, and it was my
fault 100%, but what was in front of me did not fit a stereotype of a
train that existed in my mind.

The brown/grey, dirty train blended very well with brown/grey, dirty
background, it was moving slowly, so I did not notice empty spaces
between cars, etc. I did not really see a "moving object".

So I watched. The ribbed wall of a boxcar looks very much like the
ribbed siding on a warehouse.

Yep

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.

I was very lucky to remain alive, the luck was that I hit the wheel
and did not go under the train.

However, the chance of me hitting that wheel was about 25% or less,
and I am, to date, very unhappy about the "other possibility".

A very simple measure could help, which is to install reflectors on
the sides of the train cars. Should cost under $20 per train car.

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.

Yes, our ability to notice things is very limited if those things are
somehow masqueraded.

i