<a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=616_1426435652" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=616_1426435652</a>

The second photographer, who took the top shot, was lucky that he didn't get taken out by debris.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Man the tracks along the river were our playgrounds as kids and even when we were older in our teens and twenties!

That is horrible

I think all railway crossings should have the barrier arms that come down, you never know the driver was distracted, but with the arms down he might have seen that and stopped

Did you look at the same video? They are flashing they are bright red, and they are working.

As for the arms. People drive around them.

The problem is people who think they can beat a train, or aren't paying attention. A train takes anywhere from half a mile to over a mile to stop!

Let me help:

Railroad Crossing Warning Sign COLOR: Yellow with black letters "RR" and"X" symbol.
MEANING: There is a railroad crossing ahead. Use caution, and be prepared to stop!. If you are following a bus or truck approaching a railroad crossing, be careful. Most buses and some trucks must stop at railroad crossings.

Railroad Crossing Signals:  Flashing red lights, lowered crossing gates and/or a bell at a railroad crossing indicate that you must stop, at least 15 feet (5 m) from the tracks. Do not go across the tracks until the lights and bell have stopped and the crossing gates are completely up.

Do not drive around or under a gate that is moving up or down. Look and listen for trains before crossing any railroad tracks. If an approaching train is near enough or going fast enough to be a danger, you can not go across the tracks, even if they have no signals or the signals are not working. You can not go across any railroad tracks unless there is room for your vehicle on the other side. If other traffic prevents you from going fully across, wait and go across only when there is room.

School buses with or without passengers, other buses with passengers on board and vehicles with explosives or flammable cargo must stop at all railroad crossings. Remember those rules if you are following one of these vehicles.

The round railroad crossing is the first waring, "BE PREPARED TO STOP WHEN CROSSING SIGNALS ARE ACTIVATED!"  DO NOT ENTER A CROSSING WHEN IT IS NOT SAFE.

It appears that the warning lights were not flashing at all to warn oncoming traffic.

Note: Across the United States, a person or vehicle is hit by a train every three hours, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. There are also about 270 deaths a year at public and private grade crossings.

Good example of Darwinism
Some are not fit for survival.

There are automatic barriers on most of the level crossings I've seen here in the UK, as well as lights. It doesn't stop people deliberately trying to get past, and occasionally getting hurt or killed.
You can guard against accident, but not deliberate stupidity.
I often wonder whether people who drive too fast and take chances to get where they are going quicker actually realise how little difference "driving fast" makes on a shortish journey.

I think my answer reads more rude than I intended. Let me try it this way:

There's a yellow "tracks ahead" warning at every crossing (like the one in this video)
There are crossbucks, the white RR crossing sign at every crossing (like this one)
If it's a minor road there are flashing lights and a bell (like at this crossing)
If a more traveled crossing - all of the above and gates or arms.

The train blows their horn, a very loud air horn, two long and one short blasts - before the crossing, and blows the horn all the way through the crossing.

If someone is driving a vehicle, it's their responsibility to pay attention, not the fault of the RR that someone drove straight into the path of a train!

Please put the blame in the right place. The dead driver and the three unfortunate passengers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWd4BuNbdnk

Here's a news report, the road actually angles towards the train!

Inches slower and there could also be two stupid photographers, with cell phones, who could have been seriously injured. It's a good idea to stand upstream, or away from the crossing and traffic, if you are a railfan. (aka foamer) 
 
Takes one to know one?

it's too bad you have to spend millions of dollars to save people from their own stupidity.

Some people just can't be saved from their own stupidity. Hence the annual Darwin Awards.

Sad:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/midnight-rider-director-train-accident-will-haunt-me-forever-20150321

Well we had a spot where we raced quite a few trains as we were growing up as teenagers down along the river.

There was a spot that crossed the road with no gate just the RR X's with lights and man did we raceem!

Of course this was in the day of the MUSCLE CARS, Big & small block powerhouses cranking out some serious horsepower and torque!

And of course before we drove we jumped onto the trains and rode on the side of the car or in an open car.

Yep and we all survived it and then some.

That one too, maybe it will wake up some people?

Seems there's a recent fad of taking photos on train tracks or near them. Yeah, I like trains, but I don't think that's why it's popular now. 

As for beating the train, that comes from the old movies, just like the modern chase scenes. Then people don't understand "it's a movie" if you do these things in a car, like the chases, you will crash in seconds. You can't go through a chain link gate and keep driving. You can't jump a hill and land, without breaking the suspension, in most cases, run into anything, like a curb and you have a flat.

Racing a train at a crossing is a losing game. Is saving two minutes worth dying for?

Quote from: Shelma1 on March 22, 2015, 10:57

Sad:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/midnight-rider-director-train-accident-will-haunt-me-forever-20150321

No actually pretty smart.

See since this was our playground we respected the trains and knew what they could do and what the consequences were, we paid attention to everything on the tracks.

Me and Jimmy used to play chicken with the trains by running in front of them and seeing who was going to jump out of the way first.

Now the Federal Rail authority wants to figure out what they can do to keep people off the tracks?

This is no different then any kid growing up in any large city in the US they play on the street with cars, buses and more, cross without using a crosswalk, walk on the wrong side of the road, run red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road  etc.

So has there been anyone paying attention to those people and the death stats for them? Doubt it.

But it is no different than anyone on the tracks, just as dangerous if not more dangerous because there are way more streets,highways and interstates then there are tracks.

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on March 23, 2015, 20:55

Well we had a spot where we raced quite a few trains as we were growing up as teenagers down along the river.

There was a spot that crossed the road with no gate just the RR X's with lights and man did we raceem!

Of course this was in the day of the MUSCLE CARS, Big & small block powerhouses cranking out some serious horsepower and torque!

And of course before we drove we jumped onto the trains and rode on the side of the car or in an open car.

Yep and we all survived it and then some.

I just have to quote someone on this point...

"Stupid is a stupid does" 

No doubt about that PW, can't blame the innocent victims. Appears the driver wasn't one of the two who died at the scene. Probably we'll never know what was going on in the car right before the accident.

Fern Creek High School student Suk Man Rai, 19 and Seneca High School student Chita Chuwan, 16, died instantly. The driver of the car, former Iroquois High School student Nabin Thapa, 17, died a few days later.

On the way home from Soccer practice. Fourth is in stable condition.

In case it seems odd or morbid, that I read this news. I have a daily feed from Railroad Legal.

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It's not all about crashes.

Unfortunately there were at least two other passengers in the car and three teenagers are dead. Maybe the passengers weren't stupid.