# Stalled on the train tracks... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357 "2016-05-22T09:25:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/21 "2016-05-23T21:05:11Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > My grandparents had a stick-shift for a while, which I drove (my grandpa was physically unable to drive, and my grandma didn’t like to), and my grandpa was paranoid to the Nth degree about stalling on train tracks. He absolutely INSISTED!!! that I NEVER shift gears on the tracks. That’s what they teach you in truck driver school also. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/22 "2016-05-24T06:16:56Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > … > It seems to me that to stall your car on the train tracks would require pinpoint timing. > … > I don’t get it. No, it doesn’t require pin-point timing. You stall on the tracks when there is no train coming, and you exit before a train comes. > [@panache45](#): > > How exactly does this work? The girl runs screaming from the car, and you sweep her up in your big manly arms and carry her to safety, while your car is crushed beyond recognition? Are there guys who seriously do this? It works the same way taking a date to a horror movie or a roller-coater works. There is the perception of danger, and (it is documted that) people react to emotion without regard to the type of emotion: your date goes on a date with you and experiences an emotional roller-coaster. Sheesh. I was amused that she didn’t have more insight, but now I’m not surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/23 "2016-05-24T15:12:15Z")
Sheesh is right. Do none of you male Dopers remember your teenage sense of humor? Girl in the front seat, you intentionally stall your car on the tracks, “oh, no, a train’s coming!” She starts to freak out, you start up the car and drive off laughing, she calls you an asshole. That’s a win, when you’re 16. Teenaged boys are not particularly subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/24 "2016-05-24T15:42:29Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > No, it doesn’t require pin-point timing. You stall on the tracks when there is no train coming, and you exit before a train comes. Yes, but why exactly is your car stalling at the exact 10 feet stretch where it’s on the railroad tracks? Why not the other 100 miles you’ve driven today? Your car stalls how many times a day? On average? Once? Twice? And the time it stalls is exactly when you’re going over the railroad tracks? Even when I drove a manual transmission back in the day I’d stall on average zero times a day. I’m talking about legit stalling, not a teenager driver being a jackass and doing it on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/25 "2016-05-24T19:32:07Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > No, it doesn’t require pin-point timing. You stall on the tracks when there is no train coming, and you exit before a train comes. > > It works the same way taking a date to a horror movie or a roller-coater works. There is the perception of danger, and (it is documted that) people react to emotion without regard to the type of emotion: your date goes on a date with you and experiences an emotional roller-coaster. > > Sheesh. I was amused that she didn’t have more insight, but now I’m not surprised. It sound to me like you’re just ticked off that your lack of critical thinking skills has been exposed. When multiple people – many of which used to be teenage boys ourselves — tell you that there’s no sex angle to stalling on the train tracks, you might want to reconsider your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_N.Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Guy\_N.Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_N.Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/26 "2016-05-24T19:51:42Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Your car stalls how many times a day? On average? Once? Twice? And the time it stalls is exactly when you’re going over the railroad tracks? Even when I drove a manual transmission back in the day I’d stall on average zero times a day. In the late '70s I had a Ford van “conversion”, i.e. a camping van. All the early production models of that van had a defective ignition controller which unexpectedly and repeatedly stalled the van several times a day, for several minutes each time. It happened to me too, several times - once on the way to work … crossing a railroad track … right in the middle of the track … for several minutes. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357/27 "2016-05-25T04:41:05Z")
Murphy will get you sooner or later but he will get you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalled-on-the-train-tracks/755357.md?page=1)