Train hits truck after police warn owner, stranger than

[Larry G]

Fiction....

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/gr ... t-by-train

[~Z~]

We were chatting a bit about it in the daily CSX update thread: viewtopic.php?t=26626

[danted23]

I was just looking at a birds eye view on maps.live.com, looks like you can park pretty darn close to the tracks. Wonder if they'll remove those spots that run parallel to the tracks...

[J T]

Fiction....

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/gr ... t-by-train

Russell John Sekeet · Grand Rapids Community College
Cargo Train? Freight train I think you mean wood tv.

Don Zysk · Top Commenter
Please Russell are you that bored. Oh look honey I think wood tv8 made a mistake. Cargo (or freight) is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship or aircraft, although the term is now extended to intermodal train, van or truck. What mistake did they make???

Jim Thias · Top Commenter · Grand Rapids, Michigan
Don, no one refers to a freight train as a cargo train, and the term has not been extended to intermodal rail traffic (which this train wasn't either).

[NYCMan]

Michigan has a law that says you cannot park within 50 feet of a railroad track. But, people do it all the time. The sadder part of this story is that the truck owner will probably sue CSX and get a new truck out of the deal.

[Saturnalia]

The restaurant's parking lot is legally there by all accounts. That building was an old GR&I? piece. Anyway, the lot goes all the way to the PM tracks. No fence/guardrail there, so if you park too far back, and the train comes, wham!

Thing is, track speed there is a full 10 mph. Train might have been able to stop, but that is marginal, based on that being on a curve and on the conductor's side (away from the engineer).

"Victim" in this case was told to get off, I'm sure a lot of the patrons at the restaurant got a nice bit of entertainment on the side, as well.

Winners: Restaurant, restaurant patrons, railfans (discussing this), & the insurance company, who get to jack up their rates for a small scratch & dent. Might as well just throw in the Lawyers, too
Losers: Bridge St traffic, CSX, GRPD (who could have been doing better things), driver

[Ypsi]

I've seen something similar happen in ypsi, during elvis fest, Amtrak train going between 45-55 mph or so rounded the curve in depot town and saw 3 or 4 cars with bumpers having over the rail. He dumped the air and stopped in time, but when I talked to him he said he should have taken the bumpers off


Conductor and engineer observing the issue before police arrived
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ffCPGG3mA



the departure video:



All four drivers got a big ticket for this, I heard around $400... That was from a guy tring to call his wife and get "the f***ing money"

[Norm]

[quote="NYCMan"]Michigan has a law that says you cannot park within 50 feet of a railroad track. [quote]

Can you show us that in print???

[Raildudes dad]

Michigan has a law that says you cannot park within 50 feet of a railroad track.

Can you show us that in print???

I'm guessing it's in the Motor Vehicle Code with regards to public roadways. (Too lazy to look it up ) As for this incident, it is on RR property which given the encroachment, the owner has a lease with CSX. There's plenty of clearance if you can park a car correctly in the parking spots. I'm also guessing it wasn't the PD's first visit there for dinner .

[Standard Railfan]

I'm guessing it's in the Motor Vehicle Code with regards to public roadways. (Too lazy to look it up ) As for this incident, it is on RR property which given the encroachment, the owner has a lease with CSX. There's plenty of clearance if you can park a car correctly in the parking spots. I'm also guessing it wasn't the PD's first visit there for dinner .

Had lunch with one of GRPDs finest there on more than one occasion. By coincidence, Z151 would usually wander by about the same time.

As for the parking thing:
MICHIGAN VEHICLE CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 300 of 1949


257.674 Prohibited parking; exceptions; bus loading zone; violation as civil infraction.
Sec. 674.

(1) A vehicle shall not be parked, except if necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the law or the directions of a police officer or traffic-control device, in any of the following places:

(i) Within 50 feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing.

[TSB]

Similar story. About 5 snowmobiles parked on the snow covered tracks (by the plows that cleaned the parking lot)
at the bar in Fife Lake. They were told to move because they were on the tracks. Their response rhymed with
"cup foo". Along came TSB. Train 5, Artic Cat 0.

[BnOEngr]

As for the parking thing:
MICHIGAN VEHICLE CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 300 of 1949


257.674 Prohibited parking; exceptions; bus loading zone; violation as civil infraction.
Sec. 674.

(1) A vehicle shall not be parked, except if necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the law or the directions of a police officer or traffic-control device, in any of the following places:

(i) Within 50 feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing.

Well, the vehicle was parked too close, but the law specifically says "railroad crossing". So unless he was parked on the street, he technically didn't break this law.

[Larry G]

Similar story. About 5 snowmobiles parked on the snow covered tracks (by the plows that cleaned the parking lot)
at the bar in Fife Lake. They were told to move because they were on the tracks. Their response rhymed with
"cup foo". Along came TSB. Train 5, Artic Cat 0.

Do you have pics? If so please post. Thanks!!

[hoborich]

(i) Within 50 feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing.

Yep. The law clearly applies to railroad "crossings". The reason is so that parked cars do not block the view of oncoming trains for other motorists. I've seen plenty of places where cars can park right next to the tracks. Roscommon is one place. A good case could be made for a fence, or parking curbs or bumpers, to keep the morons far enough away from the tracks. I've seen places where a simple telephone pole lays on the ground, a few feet away from the tracks, to prevent cars from getting too close. But the 50 foot rule only applies at crossings.

[conrail7695]

I was hoping there was a law like this. At frankies bar here in three river michigan, the owner and some employees park right on the right of way be hind the building and the building in less that 10ft. off of the tracks...thanks for the code through..i'll look that up..!

[tadman]

On top of it the railroad will probably bill the rube for the lost time of the locomotive and train crew to boot.

I wonder what the chances are of collecting that. A few years ago, I guy almost missed his South Shore train at Randolph Street. He caught the last door and stood on the small lip for the brief ride to Van Buren. Upon seeing him, the crew put it into emergency. He was billed for all the flat spots on the 8-car EMU train (32 wheels). What does it cost to fix something like that, $10k?