Don't cross the railroad just because the bars aren't down y

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Just because the bars haven't gotten down yet doesn't mean it is okay to cross the railroad tracks. If the lights are flashing and the bells are going that means stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHPkKOHBT_w Two cars do this in this video.

I feel bad for the passengers in vehicles of drivers who choose to ignore the signals at railroad crossings. The passengers can't help it that the driver chose to ignore the signals.

Thanks NewTime. Where I live now, there are a lot of at-grade crossings, and quite a few of them are inside the city limits. I always, always check.

Back in the early 80’s, 9 teenagers were killed in my hometown because the driver tried to do this.

Often in the news pedestrians are killed at grade crossings.

That’s human nature. A few weirdos like us may adhere strictly to the rules, but everyone else will systematically challenge them, thinking any other behavior is for losers. Will most drivers wait for you to cross as much as a two-lane street when they can speed in front of you, on the far lane, before you reach it, or simply intimidate you into stopping in the middle of the street, with the risk that entails for you? Of course not—even if you have priority over them by law, they know the ultimate law is on their side: might makes right. But don’t be distracted by the literal meaning of the word might: the train may be able to obliterate them if it catches them, but if it doesn’t, they’ve won. That’s the thrill and the demonstration of their courage and prowess.

This stuff tends to be generalized, too. People who will take this kind of risk at RR Xings aren't people you want to lend money to, either, or select as your Designated Driver (ever)! I'm always surprised that natural selection hasn't pared this down a lot further... not wishing harm to anyone, just wishing that the genetics were rigged up to favor a bit more caution and thoughtfulness on average.

This stuff tends to be generalized, too. People who will take this kind of risk at RR Xings aren't people you want to lend money to, either, or select as your Designated Driver (ever)! I'm always surprised that natural selection hasn't pared this down a lot further... not wishing harm to anyone, just wishing that the genetics were rigged up to favor a bit more caution and thoughtfulness on average.

(Ugh. Old memory just came back. It ends well for the critter and for me... I was driving to work once LONG ago and someone's Sheltie, basically a miniature collie, had gotten loose and dashed into a residential road in front of me. I stopped, and the @$$clown behind me, who apparently didn't see the little dog, had to stop too. As I waited for the dog (who was frightened and had frozen in place) to shake it off and cross, maroon started with the horn. So I got out, locked the car, went to the front, petted the dog and took its collar and escorted it back to the side of the street (where a running, tearful owner collected it and hugged me) then went back to my car, looked at maroon, shook my head, raised my voice, announced to said maroon that "You ACTUALLY wanted me to run over someone's pet, jerk?" and drove away. This was in the 1980s, before maroons on wheels felt entitled to act out their rage as they do nowadays. He actually looked shocked and ashamed and stayed a nice long way behind me after that.)

I’m surprised the driver behind you and the pet’s owner didn’t gang up on you.

That happened about 35 years ago, and I had a posh job and was wearing a skirted ladies' suit. I was also a bit of a hottie back then, which could be disarming.

I have no doubt that something foul would probably happen if I were faced with something similar today, now that I'm an older (well preserved but a long way from youthful hotness) gal in casual clothes (and our society has decayed appreciably).

I hope the pup and its owner had many good years after that, and that Mr. Hornblower improved a bit.

I think most people are not aware of how long it takes for a train to come to a panic stop. Sometimes it takes a quarter mile because they are hauling so much weight. They think of a train like a car but it is nothing like a car. [The average freight train traveling at 55 miles an hour may take the length of about 18 football fields to stop.]

One of the worst problems in a train track next to a stop light. Cars will often stop on a train track waiting for the light to change. But when the bells start to ring and the lights start to flash and the arm begins to come down, they have no place to go. They cannot go forward because there is a car in the way. They cannot go backwards because the arm has come down. They are stuck with nowhere to go.