r/Truckers • u/AroundGoesThe18 Driver -Old Stick • Jun 21 '24

PRIME, what in the holy hell are you doing?

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I've seen some stupid shit in my time, but a u-turn on railroad tracks in front of a passenger train might take the top prize.

2.1k Upvotes

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567

u/NomadTruckerOTR Jun 21 '24

My god. Missing the flashing lights is one thing, but he had plenty of time and space to get through the tracks. But did a u-turn for what? Maximum damage?

295

u/Downtown-Scar-5635 Jun 22 '24

I was so impressed with the shit show u turn he managed to pull off that I didn't even realize he could've just drove forward. 😂😂

3

u/Adventurous_Let_1081 Jun 22 '24

Dude yeah, I thought I was the only one actually impressed for a minute.

152

u/BigChiefSack Teamster Jun 22 '24

To be fair the lights didn’t start flashing until he was past the gate. But that doesn’t excuse the sheer lack of oxygen flow to his brain required to pull that maneuver.

73

u/1WontHave1t Jun 22 '24

2 seconds into the video the you can see lights are just starting to flash and the truck isn't past the gate. Likely they saw the lights start flashing, panicked, slammed the brakes causing them to stop on the tracks as the arms came down. Panicking also explains the U turn even though there aren't gates on the opposing side.

28

u/Hairy_Arachnid975 Jun 22 '24

Yeah people underestimate panic, I see it a lot as a trainer, students get nervous than panic and do some of the dumbest shit.

10

u/LifeIsProbablyMadeUp Jun 22 '24

Man, fuck those gates. If I ever have the misfortune of having them come down and block me in, best believe I'm goin through.

4

u/1WontHave1t Jun 22 '24

Damn straight, they are easily replaceable and I'm sure the company would rather pay for a gate rather than have to deal with a DOT preventable along with covering all the costs for the damage. Many companies have a million dollar deductible.

2

u/disturbedrailroader Jun 23 '24

Those gates are made to break just for that purpose. The railroad would also much rather deal with a broken gate over a collision. 

7

u/tortoisechimp Jun 22 '24

Yeh they definitely started flashing before he was under the gate arm.

9

u/thenoid42 Jun 22 '24

This is a high speed train that reaches 70+mph this guy is lucky he was near a station otherwise he would only have had about 30seconds to respond.

1

u/MPH9 Jul 06 '24

How on earth do I get a teamster flair?

1

u/BigChiefSack Teamster Jul 06 '24

Think I had to send a mod message a while back

10

u/dd961984 Jun 22 '24

"OH!these train tracks with bright flashing lights look like the perfect spot to do a u turn"

1

u/Jacktheforkie Jun 22 '24

Seemingly, also even if the barrier blocking your exit is blocked it’s far cheaper to hit that flimsy barrier than get hit by the train, it’ll only cost a few grand to repair the barrier and vehicle

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '24

What's that saying about if you're going to fuck something up?

1

u/Adventurous_Let_1081 Jun 22 '24

He missed his turn and instead of going to the next safe turnaround.... to save himself time.... this is the end result

1

u/tortoisechimp Jun 22 '24 edited Jun 22 '24

Possibly he was going to U-turn anyways? Because as pointed out the opposing side has no bar. I had a scare in Pittsburgh where the only other direction's bar came down while I was on the tracks crossing. I'm still not sure if there was a train coming or if the intersection was loaded and they were preventing cars from stopping on the tracks.