OUinFLA
7/17/2007, 12:26 PM
The car usually doesn't win.
In our city, there is a lot of train traffic. With the phsophate mines to the south of town, and the E-W leg of Amtrack crossing Lakeland, there are just a lot of trains moving through town
The phosphate trains are tiresome. Usually they are in excess of 100 cars and don't go too fast through town as the switching yard is located in the SW corner of the city and they don't have much room to get up to speed.
Amtrack is a different horse. They come in from Tampa hitting the 78mph mark and don't slow down until they get into the city limits.
In the last month, we have had two sad wrecks around the city.
A month ago a young lady was in such a hurry to go pick up her boyfriend from work that she approached a crossing that had the gates down and by-passed 4 cars waiting at the crossing to try to beat the train. Saddly, it was the 78mph Amtrack and she didnt make it over the tracks in time. Dead at the scene.
Yesterday almost the same thing about a mile closer to town. Only this time it involved a small car with 4 young people in it. Again, the gates were down, the signals were blinking and the bell was clanging. Again, someone thought they could beat the train through the crossing. When the78mph Amtrack hit this car, it blew pieces of it 200 yards up the track. What remained of the car looked like it had been inserted into a wrecking yard compactor. All 4 dead at the scene. A warehouse security camera which was aimed at their parking lot, captured the entire event on tape. They haven't released the tape yet, but it was reported that apparently all safety signals were working properly.
Now, I know everyone is always late for where ever they are going , and I know that it is frustrating to wait for the slow 100 car phosphate trains that criss-cross Lakeland daily, but, 4 times a day, Amtrack is going to go screaming through town, and at 78 mph, that million ton mass of metal interia is going to make little pieces out of any car that tries to challenge it.
Im sorry for the families/friends involved, but somewhere there is something seriously wrong if people are going to try to circumvent the safety barriiers that are in place to tell us that danger is approaching. Sometimes at a high rate of speed.
In our city, there is a lot of train traffic. With the phsophate mines to the south of town, and the E-W leg of Amtrack crossing Lakeland, there are just a lot of trains moving through town
The phosphate trains are tiresome. Usually they are in excess of 100 cars and don't go too fast through town as the switching yard is located in the SW corner of the city and they don't have much room to get up to speed.
Amtrack is a different horse. They come in from Tampa hitting the 78mph mark and don't slow down until they get into the city limits.
In the last month, we have had two sad wrecks around the city.
A month ago a young lady was in such a hurry to go pick up her boyfriend from work that she approached a crossing that had the gates down and by-passed 4 cars waiting at the crossing to try to beat the train. Saddly, it was the 78mph Amtrack and she didnt make it over the tracks in time. Dead at the scene.
Yesterday almost the same thing about a mile closer to town. Only this time it involved a small car with 4 young people in it. Again, the gates were down, the signals were blinking and the bell was clanging. Again, someone thought they could beat the train through the crossing. When the78mph Amtrack hit this car, it blew pieces of it 200 yards up the track. What remained of the car looked like it had been inserted into a wrecking yard compactor. All 4 dead at the scene. A warehouse security camera which was aimed at their parking lot, captured the entire event on tape. They haven't released the tape yet, but it was reported that apparently all safety signals were working properly.
Now, I know everyone is always late for where ever they are going , and I know that it is frustrating to wait for the slow 100 car phosphate trains that criss-cross Lakeland daily, but, 4 times a day, Amtrack is going to go screaming through town, and at 78 mph, that million ton mass of metal interia is going to make little pieces out of any car that tries to challenge it.
Im sorry for the families/friends involved, but somewhere there is something seriously wrong if people are going to try to circumvent the safety barriiers that are in place to tell us that danger is approaching. Sometimes at a high rate of speed.