Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA

"Ignoramus21235" wrote in message
...
Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA


In a similar OT vein - stroller + baby under train in Oz, baby not injured.

So why do train platforms slope toward the tracks???

Ironically, the baby that survived being swept under the train, was later
eaten by dingos.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"Royston Vasey" wrote in message
. au...

In a similar OT vein - stroller + baby under train in Oz, baby not
injured.

So why do train platforms slope toward the tracks???

"Ignoramus21235" wrote in message
...
Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA

Extremely lucky. In the 1970's a truck frame collapsed and crushed the car
behind me. Between my coworker and me. I had just passed the truck.
Killed the 2 ladies in the car behind me.

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:18:22 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus21235
scrawled the following:

Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

You hit a train? Whuffo? More info and pics, please!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA

He's lucky:

A) it was a soft-sided truck
and
B) it wasn't filled with heavy machinery that day.
C) they didn't deport the illegal son of a bitch.

--
What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunities, of
having a patient, but restless mind, of sacrificing one's
ease or vanity, of uniting a love of detail to foresight, and
of passing through hard times bravely and cheerfully.
-- Charles Victor Cherbuliez

On 2010-01-14, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:18:22 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus21235
scrawled the following:

Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

You hit a train? Whuffo? More info and pics, please!

It was a crossing without a warning light or a gate.

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 did hit the brake, but it was too late.

I was lucky because I hit the wheel carriage in the middle of the
train, and my car was thrown out instead of getting dragged under the
train.

I had a couple of small scratches on my knees. The car was totaled.

No pics.

i


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNjOfan0zA

He's lucky:

A) it was a soft-sided truck
and
B) it wasn't filled with heavy machinery that day.
C) they didn't deport the illegal son of a bitch.

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

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

On Jan 14, 2:37*pm, Ignoramus3181
wrote:
...
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.
i

http://www.anytimesign.com/3m_conspicuity_tape.htm

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:37:30 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus3181
scrawled the following:

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".

Right, so you drove smack dab into a 10' high SOLID WALL. Good one,
Ig. g How much had you had to drink/smoke/drop?


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.

Until the kids break them all off. Y'know, those who are already there
tagging the cars at night.


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

Hence the caveat "Drive Defensively!" is driven into our skulls by our
parents, teachers, driver's ed pamphlets, DMVs, and the media.

--
The greatest fine art of the future will be the making
of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.
--Abraham Lincoln

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.

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

Do the same people who drive into trains also drive into warehouses-
because they looked like parked trains?

On Jan 14, 5:41*pm, Cydrome Leader wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jan 14, 12:58?pm, Ignoramus3181
...

Do the same people who drive into trains also drive into warehouses-
because they looked like parked trains?

They drive into houses, stores, trucks, gas pumps, boulders, rivers,
anything that looks like a cell phone screen.

jsw

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:05:58 -0800 (PST), Jim Wilkins
wrote:


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

So where did it come from?

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the
means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not
making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of
it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different
countries, that the more public provisions were made for the
poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became
poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the
more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin
Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766

On Jan 17, 5:09*pm, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:05:58 -0800 (PST), Jim Wilkins
wrote:
..[elephant]
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

So where did it come from?

Gunner

IIRC it had been sold and the new exhibit wasn't ready, or something
like that, so the original owner took it in. He even had elephants at
his house for a while. An engineer I worked for who was his neighbor
had a grapefruit-sized ball of compacted straw on his desk as a curio.
Guess what it really was!

The reindeer stayed for a while after the park closed, too. Zoos in
general aren't doing well and the animals are moved around when one
has to cut back. The local paper keeps up with the whereabouts of the
more popular ones.

jsw

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:58:48 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus3181
scrawled the following:

On 2010-01-14, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:18:22 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus21235
scrawled the following:

Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

You hit a train? Whuffo? More info and pics, please!

It was a crossing without a warning light or a gate.

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 did hit the brake, but it was too late.

OMG! You ran right into a large, moving train?!? So you had only 1
year driving experience, but how many years riding and watching?
Man, that's a bad one, Ig. You literally "hit the broad side of a
barn" with that one. Glad you made it! How slow was slow?


I was lucky because I hit the wheel carriage in the middle of the
train, and my car was thrown out instead of getting dragged under the
train.

You bet you were lucky. Had the wheel ridden up on the car, it would
have smashed it down and cut right through it, probably taken your
legs, at minimum, in the process.


I had a couple of small scratches on my knees. The car was totaled.

No pics.

No, I guess not.

--
The greatest fine art of the future will be the making
of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.
--Abraham Lincoln

On 2010-01-15, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:58:48 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus3181
scrawled the following:

On 2010-01-14, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:18:22 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus21235
scrawled the following:

Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

You hit a train? Whuffo? More info and pics, please!

It was a crossing without a warning light or a gate.

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 did hit the brake, but it was too late.

OMG! You ran right into a large, moving train?!? So you had only 1
year driving experience, but how many years riding and watching?

Also one year.

Man, that's a bad one, Ig. You literally "hit the broad side of a
barn" with that one. Glad you made it! How slow was slow?

I would say, the train was going 10-15 MPH at most.


I was lucky because I hit the wheel carriage in the middle of the
train, and my car was thrown out instead of getting dragged under the
train.

You bet you were lucky. Had the wheel ridden up on the car, it would
have smashed it down and cut right through it, probably taken your
legs, at minimum, in the process.

I think that my chances would be rather slim, as the car would be
dragged along with the train.


I had a couple of small scratches on my knees. The car was totaled.

No pics.

No, I guess not.


i

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:48:58 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus3181
scrawled the following:

On 2010-01-15, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:58:48 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus3181
scrawled the following:

On 2010-01-14, Larry Jaques novalidaddress@di wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:18:22 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus21235
scrawled the following:

Reminds me of my own collision with a moving train.

You hit a train? Whuffo? More info and pics, please!

It was a crossing without a warning light or a gate.

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 did hit the brake, but it was too late.

OMG! You ran right into a large, moving train?!? So you had only 1
year driving experience, but how many years riding and watching?

Also one year.

Really? How is it that you'd never been in a car until you got your
license? Very unusual.


Man, that's a bad one, Ig. You literally "hit the broad side of a
barn" with that one. Glad you made it! How slow was slow?

I would say, the train was going 10-15 MPH at most.

Wow, I'da thunk you'd see the lights showing from behind the cars as
the couplers went by in front of you. If it ws dark, I can see where
you'd miss that. You sure lucked out.

--
The greatest fine art of the future will be the making
of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.
--Abraham Lincoln

Larry Jaques wrote:

C) they didn't deport the illegal son of a bitch.

Wow Larry, just because he speaks another language, you are certain of
his immigration status?

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news
He's lucky:

A) it was a soft-sided truck
and
B) it wasn't filled with heavy machinery that day.
C) they didn't deport the illegal son of a bitch.

are you aware that it is possible to be in the USA and speak a language
other than english and still be legal? One can be born here and not speak
much english, one can have a legal visa of any number of types, or one can
have a permanent resident card. In this country, as opposed to whatever
country you are actually from, we believe in the rule that you are innocent
until proven guilty, not the napoleonic code. How would you like it if it
were you, and you were accused of being illegal because someone thought you
looked foreign or had an odd accent - maybe you sounded canadian or
newzeelandish?