24 February 2015

can you spell that without any Rs?

A motorist is almost 20 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.

that's confusingly worded. it doesn't mean that you are 20 time more likely to BE in a train crash. it means, comparing train crashes to car crashes, train crashes are almost 20 times as deadly. this is because trains are so freaking huge. how huge? well, to provide a bit of context: a train hitting your car is akin to your car hitting a coke can. A COKE CAN. YOUR CAR. no contest, am i right? i am.

so with these odds, why are so many people jumping the gates? train is coming, gates are going down, people are madly driving around the gates. what the hell for?

clearly, some people are purposefully driving in front of trains. you know. to "die".

some people drive around the falling gates accidentally. i don't know how you could not see the damn giant arm falling right in front of your damn face if you are paying a mere minuscule speck of attention to what you are doing. there is an argument that roads are safer if these non-attentives drive in front of trains, but i would never make a such an insensitive argument.

another group are daredevils - the "watch this!" group. not only the roads, but the entire world could potentially be safer if these jackasses drive in front of trains, but again. who could be that callous?

now, we come to the final group. the group that just doesn't have time to wait for a dadgum train. this is the group i really want to talk about.

how long goes it take for a train to go by? obvs, this depends on several factors including length and speed of said train. the universal vehicle code (yes, it's a thing. look it up.) suggests that trains not block crossings for more than five minutes, except under special circumstances. they can only suggest, not set definite standards, because being specific about crossings would have a trickle down affect into other safety violations.

but, regulating the trains is not the answer. convincing people they DO have five freaking minutes to wait for a 12 million pound vehicle to trundle on by - THAT's the answer.

where's the fire? what's the hurry about?

imagine telling some guy travelling by covered wagon that you don't have time to wait five minutes. he'd be completely confused because he didn't even have a way to MEASURE five minutes. or, ten. maaaaybe 15, since the sun will have shifted a degree in that time. but most likely that guy in the covered wagon could give you morning, noon, suppertime, bedtime. a guy in a covered wagon would be stunned by the speed of our motion. zip!zap!zoom!

we're killing ourselves, and for what? why have we literally scheduled ourselves into a corner, where we cannot afford an unexpected wait of 15, 10, or even a mere 5 minutes?

how did we find ourselves in a place where a plausible option is to drive into the path of an oncoming train?

settle down, people.

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