# Don't plan a parade route to cross railroad tracks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 16, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192 "2012-11-16T15:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/21 "2012-11-16T17:56:56Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > To the idiots in Midland, Texas: Just one idiot, really, and that’d be the driver of the truck. Officials have said that the lights and gates at the crossing were working at the time, and that the train crew sounded the horn. For reasons tragically demonstrated here, it is in fact against the law to cross a train track when the lights/gates are activated. > [@Musicat](#): > > It was said in one news article that the truck that got hit had made it partially across the tracks when the driver heard the train (whistle or whatever). He couldn’t pull forward because of the truck & flatbed in front of him. Awesome. Lights/gates active, no place to go on the far side, and he decided he just couldn’t wait to cross the track. Confirmed, the driver is _the_ idiot responsible for all those deaths and injuries. Assuming he survived the incident, I hope he serves time in prison for manslaughter. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/22 "2012-11-16T18:58:43Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > It sounds like they forgot Rule 0 when crossing an intersection: don’t enter unless you have someplace to go to. > > I have a hard time not blaming the driver. How do people not observe this rule? Oh, I’ll just go ahead and pull onto the tracks and wait. I’m SURE a train won’t come. This guys was stopped on the tracks. There’s no excuse for that period. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/23 "2012-11-16T19:00:18Z")
There’s [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15704962) on this subject on the board, and the claim is made that no, there was no gate. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/24 "2012-11-16T19:00:39Z")
If the gates were working, how did he get past them? I’m guessing there’s more to this story than some dipshit who is too stupid for life. Then again, who knows? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/25 "2012-11-16T19:01:47Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > There’s [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15704962) on this subject on the board, and the claim is made that no, there was no gate. There are gates there. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/26 "2012-11-16T19:15:45Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > If the gates were working, how did he get past them? > > I’m guessing there’s more to this story than some dipshit who is too stupid for life. Then again, who knows? One story I read said the gates came down on top of the truck bed, so he was half-way across when they triggered. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/27 "2012-11-16T19:35:07Z")
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger And you don’t plan a parade route to cross railroad tracks. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/28 "2012-11-16T19:36:14Z")
Any word on how the banquet went? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/29 "2012-11-16T19:38:19Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Any word on how the banquet went? Killer food. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/30 "2012-11-16T19:49:21Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > It sounds like they forgot Rule 0 when crossing an intersection: don’t enter unless you have someplace to go to. > > I have a hard time not blaming the driver. Seriously… THIS. There is no reason that truck should have stopped on the track. I don’t care if he had to lay on his (truck) horn to force people out of the way and drive on the other side of the road. No sane person would stop on a set of active tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/31 "2012-11-16T19:49:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > One story I read said the gates came down on top of the truck bed, so he was half-way across when they triggered. I wonder if that might have been a hint of something coming, but I can’t think of what… ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/32 "2012-11-16T20:56:18Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Seriously… THIS. There is no reason that truck should have stopped on the track. I don’t care if he had to lay on his (truck) horn to force people out of the way and drive on the other side of the road. No sane person would stop on a set of active tracks. The vehicle in front of him is tooling along. He is following closely. All of a sudden the vehcile ahead stops. Well, now he is fucked. Now obviously he was breaking the law regarding not stopping before crossing in the first place. And if it went like I described above he still made a deadly assumption that vehicle ahead would keep going (though 99.9999 percent of the time thats not a horribly unreasonable assumption and due to human nature its something you come to expect). What gets me is those gates usually drop a fair time before the train goes barreling through. Between the warning of the gates dropping AND the blaring train horn you’d think most folks would have had enough time to get out of dodge. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/33 "2012-11-16T21:01:56Z")
I don’t know about you guys, but seeing someone stopped on active train tracks is not terribly unusual here. Stupid, and sometimes deadly, but not unusual. I’m sort of assuming that the guy driving the float was your typical half-assed driver, who wasn’t as careful as he should have been about being able to clear the tracks without stopping. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/34 "2012-11-16T21:06:49Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > TWhat gets me is those gates usually drop a fair time before the train goes barreling through. Between the warning of the gates dropping AND the blaring train horn you’d think most folks would have had enough time to get out of dodge. Many of them did jump off in time, but it was a disabled veterans float and apparently a number of the guys on the float were in wheelchairs, etc. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/35 "2012-11-16T21:34:50Z")
Of course. That makes perfect but sad sense. And like Cat Whisper I too have often seen people stopped on tracks, usually for the reason I described above. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/36 "2012-11-16T22:07:36Z")
It appears that several safeguards or safety procedures, _any one_ of which could have prevented the accident, were disregarded or not implemented. The parade organizer should have contacted the train dispatcher (or whoever controls the trains) and made sure there was no conflict way in advance. The truck driver should have stopped, looked and listened both ways before even beginning to cross the tracks. The truck driver should never have begun to cross the tracks unless there was sufficient space on the other side to completely hold his extended vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/37 "2012-11-16T22:54:30Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > The parade organizer should have contacted the train dispatcher (or whoever controls the trains) and made sure there was no conflict way in advance. Suppose the parade organizer gets bad info from the dispatcher, or just writes it down wrong, and the truck driver is informed that no train is expected during the parade. Truck driver parks on tracks, gets hit by train. Even in those circumstances, I’m still blaming the driver. There’s no reason at all for him to have parked on the tracks. And in the actual circumstances - in which the driver was given no information regarding the possible passage of trains - he definitely gets the blame. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/38 "2012-11-16T23:19:23Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I want to know how no one saw a fucking train coming and shouted an alarm for everyone else to get out of the way! > > Not like the train can swerve or stop. The first rule of the Train Club is: Don’t Talk About the Train! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/39 "2012-11-16T23:27:15Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Suppose the parade organizer gets bad info from the dispatcher, or just writes it down wrong, and the truck driver is informed that no train is expected during the parade. Truck driver parks on tracks, gets hit by train. As I said, had _any one_ of those precautions been taken, the accident would not have happened. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192/40 "2012-11-17T00:23:15Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I don’t know about you guys, but seeing someone stopped on active train tracks is not terribly unusual here. Stupid, and sometimes deadly, but not unusual. I’m sort of assuming that the guy driving the float was your typical half-assed driver, who wasn’t as careful as he should have been about being able to clear the tracks without stopping. It was an 18-wheeler flatbed, big semi-cab towing, so not a typical driver as if it was just some pickup or something. The guy driving would have been a commercial driver with all the extra education about not stopping on RR tracks. :mad:☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-plan-a-parade-route-to-cross-railroad-tracks/641192.md?page=3)