Community Chat

[momtochloe]

I just read a tragic story where a couple's car got stuck on a railroad crossing.  The husband was able to release his seat belt but unfortunately they couldn't get his wife's to open.  He jumped back into the car trying to cut it open or pull her out but unfortunately they were hit and killed by the oncoming train God rest their souls.

What was highlighted in the article was that at every railway crossing there is a small-ish sign that provides an emergency number and also the number of the crossing so dispatchers can locate and hopefully relay this to the conductor to hopefully stop their train in time.  This signs look like this:

I was not aware of this and wanted to let others know.

[dex]

Thanks I didn’t know that either.I wonder why the signs aren’t bigger to be more noticeable.

[Snowpuppy]

Huh. Husband frees himself, wife is stuck.

He doesn't get behind the vehicle to push it 6' out of harms way?

BTW, I live rural. I've never seen the sign. Anywhere.

[NicksmomESQ]

I'm really not sure how much good a sign with an emergency number would do. When a train is coming at you there isn't enough time to take out your cell phone & call for help. JMO

[CelticCrafter]

Something fishy about not being able to open her seatbelt.

I would want to know if that was an ongoing problem and if it was why wasn't it taken care of.

[insomniac2]

That sign could be very helpful.

I've never seen one, however.

[Cakers3]

They both died so there is nothing to indicate the husband left the wife to die.  He tried to free her.

I find these accidents tragic but I also think people are trying to out run the train in these circumstances.

It's really kind of odd that a train would be approaching close enough to kill them and kind of odd that the car just happened to stall.

We have the tool that slices through seat belts and breaks windows-hopefully we will never have to use them.

[Kalli]

Maybe they were elderly? I could definitely see this happening to my parents. Mom had dementia and got to the point where she forgot how to work her seatbelt. We had to secure her and release the belt when needed.

Dad was determined to keep Mom home with him but being a few years older than her, it got to the point where he couldn’t do everything for her that needed to be done. We stepped in and were able to keep her home 6 months longer but eventually we had to admit her to a NH.

My dad would never have left Mom in this situation. They’d have died together.

[chrystaltree]

Or better, don't try to beat the train across the track.  For the rules, use common sense and no one dies like that.

[qualitygal]

You know, I don't think I've ever noticed a sign like that, but then I've never looked for a sign to read, especially that size as I drive or even ride by.  So.............I'm going to check and be more aware and see if we have any of these.

Do we know what state this picture was taken in?