NationStates Jolt Archive

Curious only because I heard this story from someone I chat with online regularly:


Apparently, someone she was at a bar with last weekend got real drunk, and drove her car up a train embankment, and across a set of railroad tracks. Got it stuck in the snow, couldn't get it off, freaked out, and fled the scene. (This is an Amtrak line, btw.) But that's not the crazy part.

The crazy part is that when she went to pick up her car from the police empoundment lot, they handed her keys back to her and said, "that's $250 for the impoundment, don't do it again."

?!?!

There MUST be some sort of federal law against leaving several-ton obstructions on railway tracks, right? Does anybody know?

Curious only because I heard this story from someone I chat with online regularly:


Apparently, someone she was at a bar with last weekend got real drunk, and drove her car up a train embankment, and across a set of railroad tracks. Got it stuck in the snow, couldn't get it off, freaked out, and fled the scene. (This is an Amtrak line, btw.) But that's not the crazy part.

The crazy part is that when she went to pick up her car from the police empoundment lot, they handed her keys back to her and said, "that's $250 for the impoundment, don't do it again."

?!?!

There MUST be some sort of federal law against leaving several-ton obstructions on railway tracks, right? Does anybody know?

Does sound a bit far-fetched, doesn't it? I say, urban legend.

Most cars weight considerably less than a ton. A train weighs anywhere from 100 tons to 100,000 tons. Hitting a car wouldn't slow a train down. As for laws against it, dunno, depends on your local laws. I don't think there are any specific federal laws against it. Particularly if you're physically unable to move the vehicle.

Nope. Actual occurance this past weekend. They picked the car up this morning. Just got a text-message about it.

What's a car gonna do to a train? Scratch the paint?

Nope. Actual occurance this past weekend. They picked the car up this morning. Just got a text-message about it.

Well then, have the young lady buy you some lottery tickets, because she's very, very lucky.

Curious only because I heard this story from someone I chat with online regularly:


Apparently, someone she was at a bar with last weekend got real drunk, and drove her car up a train embankment, and across a set of railroad tracks. Got it stuck in the snow, couldn't get it off, freaked out, and fled the scene. (This is an Amtrak line, btw.) But that's not the crazy part.

The crazy part is that when she went to pick up her car from the police empoundment lot, they handed her keys back to her and said, "that's $250 for the impoundment, don't do it again."

?!?!

There MUST be some sort of federal law against leaving several-ton obstructions on railway tracks, right? Does anybody know?Think of it this way. What would the state prefer, the wasted time and expense of a prosecution, or the little little sum of $250 and substanitially less paper work.

Trains can be derailed by 'the wrong kind of snow', I think leaving a car on the tracks is a very serious breach of the safety of rail users.

What's a car gonna do to a train? Scratch the paint?

It could cause the train to derail. Happened in California not too terribly long ago. A man wanted to kill himself, so he parked his vehicle on the train tracks. But then he chickened out and got out of the vehicle. A train did end up hitting it, and derailed. IIRC, 11 people died and quite a few more were injured.

$250.00? That's it?? If that happened here, not only would she have been charged and jailed, but her car probably would have been totaled by the dozens of freights that run through before the tow company could have picked up the car.

She must have been very lucky, or she had friends in high places.

<_<
>_>

Trains can be derailed by 'the wrong kind of snow', I think leaving a car on the tracks is a very serious breach of the safety of rail users.

I thought only londoners fell for that crap. Your trains get delayed for leaves on the tracks.

It could cause the train to derail. Happened in California not too terribly long ago. A man wanted to kill himself, so he parked his vehicle on the train tracks. But then he chickened out and got out of the vehicle. A train did end up hitting it, and derailed. IIRC, 11 people died and quite a few more were injured.

Ah, what happened to the good old days, when trains looked like in cartoons, and had a big grating in the front to shove junk out of the way...

Cow Catchers.

$250.00? That's it?? If that happened here, not only would she have been charged and jailed, but her car probably would have been totaled by the dozens of freights that run through before the tow company could have picked up the car.

I don't know all the details, but I'm guessing her car was on a secondary track. Otherwise it assuredly would have caused an accident. The fine was for the car impoundment.

And yeah, I'm going to go with "could quite possibly cause a train to derail," since we're not talking pool-ball physics here.

So back to the question, what are the laws against leaving crap on train tracks? Seems like a pretty serious breech of interstate commerce laws to me, at a minimum.

I found some info from our state website, it seems that abandoning a vehicle on tracks results in up to $10,000 plus cost of towing and a revocation or suspension of your license, but it's up to each city to determine this, plus the rail company can sue for damages.

In short, don't do it.

I thought only londoners fell for that crap. Your trains get delayed for leaves on the tracks.Some of the conditions that British trains have to put up with.
http://www.explorethesouthwestcoastpath.co.uk/images/devon_railway.jpg

As for the leaves... well you might know that Britain is a very wet country. If it's not raining then it's at least cloudy. This means leaves that fall on a track, and don't dry out and crumble away. Instead they stay wet, get compressed and turn into a hard slippery layer atop the tracks. This reduces friction between the train wheels and the track. Imagine driving up to 120mph on black ice.

Some of the conditions that British trains have to put up with.
http://www.explorethesouthwestcoastpath.co.uk/images/devon_railway.jpg

As for the leaves... well you might know that Britain is a very wet country. If it's not raining then it's at least cloudy. This means leaves that fall on a track, and don't dry out and crumble away. Instead they stay wet, get compressed and turn into a hard slippery layer atop the tracks. This reduces friction between the train wheels and the track. Imagine driving up to 120mph on black ice.

Exactly. I am so glad someone who doesn't work in the rail industry actually knows this.

What's a car gonna do to a train? Scratch the paint?

If it hits right, it will derail the train. And that takes hours to clear up.

What's a car gonna do to a train? Scratch the paint?

Try this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3989277.stm

Over here you'd probably get charged with reckless driving, endangering others, and interfering with railroad safety. That alone would let you lose your license, I'm pretty sure.

$250 sounds pretty cheap.
Our Trains aren't as big as Yank ones so it would be more of a fair contest if a Train hit a car, sure the train would win but at what cost?...

Think of it this way. What would the state prefer, the wasted time and expense of a prosecution, or the little little sum of $250 and substanitially less paper work.

What a great model for law enforcement. All you need is an office where you go to pay bribes, and as long as everyone pays their bribes the government would do exactly nothing about crime while making a tidy profit. :eek:

You never have to raise taxes, you could just pass a new law with fearsome penalties when you want to raise govt income. The more incomprehensible the law the better, since people wouldn't know if they were breaking it or not and pay up to be on the safe side.

Of course there'd by some scoundrel who'd exploit the system and insist on being tried and sent to jail. Dang freeloaders ...

Most cars weight considerably less than a ton.Ummm, most cars weigh between 3,100-3,500 lbs. A ton is 2,000 lbs, therefore most cars weigh considerably more than a ton.

It could cause the train to derail. Happened in California not too terribly long ago. A man wanted to kill himself, so he parked his vehicle on the train tracks. But then he chickened out and got out of the vehicle. A train did end up hitting it, and derailed. IIRC, 11 people died and quite a few more were injured.

What a bastard. I hope he got time or everything, if he had anything, taken from him and his already miserable life made worse. Such a selfish act.. Why put other peoples lives in danger if you want to end your own.. there are soo many ways to end ones life without endangering others. What a pos and he didn't even follow through.

I found some info from our state website, it seems that abandoning a vehicle on tracks results in up to $10,000 plus cost of towing and a revocation or suspension of your license, but it's up to each city to determine this, plus the rail company can sue for damages.

In short, don't do it.

Sure, that's why I shouldn't leave my car on train tracks.

Not because it could cause a potentially fatal accident, not because it would absolutely guarantee the destruction of my car, not because there's no sane reason to do it and not inform somebody as quickly as possible (if it was an accident)... but because I'll be fined $10,000+ and have my license revoked.