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I'm thinking with traffic behind her, she felt that forward was her only chance....just too slow
I've watched the videos of the actual train crossing and simulations.
She was either impatient or not paying attention when she crossed and got stuck. She might have gotten stuck with no traction due to ice or her wheels were turned the wrong way.
From news reports about her, it seems more like she wasn't paying attention at the time. I do feel that crossing does not have enough flashing lights to get drivers attention. Sometimes people zone or space out when driving.
It sounds like she might have been trying to beat the train. She might have started moving forward when the lights came on and the back of the gate hit her suv. At this point, the eyewitness reports she got out of the suv, checked for damage from the gate and tried to wiggle it a bit, then got back into the suv and moved forward. There was plenty of room for her to back up and those gates are made to break. If she had stayed put and not moved at all, she was still 6 feet from the train and would have avoided the crash. It's almost as though she didn't believe the gate warning and just ignored it.
Every once in a while I see someone go around a train gate. Never do this, even if it's a long wait.
And am I the only one thinking that she possibly panicked and shifted into the wrong gear?
Not at all. I do think that could have happened, especially if she was in a panic with the approaching train. Knowing how dark that area can be, and how a train can appear to be in the distance when it is closing the gap readily, and it is not always easy to judge the position of the vehicle in that situation, especially if the only light source can be HIDs from other vehicles. It is definitely plausible that she was in a panic and floored the vehicle in the wrong gear, thinking that she needed the momentum to push through the gate behind her.
It is also possible that she was unable to judge the distance of the cars behind her, and that she felt the only option was to get the vehicle out of the gate zone near the tracks. not knowing how much room was in front of her and how much was behind her. Some people would think that they could beat the train, especially if they misjudge the speed of the approaching train, which is easy to do, or they misjudge the capability of their vehicle with respect to gaining sufficent speed from a stop to be able to clear the area. Again, this is not a product of rational thought, since the way to go is in the direction away from the tracks, or parallel to them, swining the front of the vehicle into the oncoming lanes and the back either through the gate or off the road, anything to avoid the train.
Whatever the cause, the accident was a tragedy for too many families, those who were killed and injured.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
It's possible she didn't mean to go forward but it doesn't explain how she wound up with the back of the gate on her suv. Those lights go on before the gate goes down. And if your headlights are on you can see RR tracks so you know how far away they are. I would have thought if she were panicked it would be much more likely to get out of the car and run away from it. Her actions didn't really seem panicked cause she took her time examining the gate on the back of the suv, even trying to dislodge it and got back into the car. The driver behind her tried to get her to back up by calling and waving to her.
I think that she got stuck between the gates prior to the alarm sounding, lights flashing, lights and gate dropping, which is why it hit the back of her car, i.e., she thought she could get through when there was no train coming and traffic stopped on the other side of the tracks. I do not know if that was the case, but that seems logical, and then, once on the other side of the gate, she realized she had to get out of there with every passing second, and could have panicked in the last few seconds, driving the wrong way or attempting to get away from what she perceived to be the path of the train.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
According to news reports there aren't any sort of audible signals (alarms, bells, etc...) at this crossing, nor are they required by law because it does not involve pedestrians. So all drivers have is the gates coming down and the flashing lights.
Engineer states he saw "something" being reflected ahead of his train then became aware it was the front of a vehicle. After making the standard horn sounds for reaching a crossing he then blew a four second blast and activated the emergency system. He did this because the vehicle now had moved forward onto the tracks and seconds later impact.
For the life of me do not understand why the woman got back into her SUV when clearly a train was moments away. Worse still WTF did she go forward? My only guess is the traffic ahead had cleared and she "thought" she could get across/beat the train. There was news footage on Thursday night Fox5 news showing just down the road at another crossing in Valhalla people doing just that; driving around lowered gates to beat an approaching train.
At least down on the UES of Manhattan those large SUV's have become the de facto "station wagon" of soccer moms. You have barely 5'2" females driving Mercedes-Benz GLs, Infiniti Qx, Range Rovers, and other equally large SUVs/trucks and it is often clear they do not know how to handle the things.
I think that she got stuck between the gates prior to the alarm sounding, lights flashing, lights and gate dropping, which is why it hit the back of her car, i.e., she thought she could get through when there was no train coming and traffic stopped on the other side of the tracks. I do not know if that was the case, but that seems logical, and then, once on the other side of the gate, she realized she had to get out of there with every passing second, and could have panicked in the last few seconds, driving the wrong way or attempting to get away from what she perceived to be the path of the train.
I think this analysis is correct. She had 2 seconds to make the most important decision of her life and she made the wrong one. The truth is that we would not have given Mrs. Brody's tragic decision a second thought if the third rail had not pierced the train: 12 39' sections of rail. It is incredible that there were not more fatalities! Initially, I wanted to write this thing off as an accident, and, well, you know, life is full of them. But the issue with the track dislodging into the train really makes one wonder about Metro North and the priorities of our government. The taxpayers of Westchester, the most heavily taxed people in the country and the people who pay much more into the federal government than they get out deserve a 1st class modern rail system to get to work. Blumenthal and Schumer can shake their heads and express sorrow until the cows come home but until they get some real federal money committed to upgrading our local rail, they are utterly useless.
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