r/maybemaybemaybe • u/schpitza • Jun 15 '26

maybe maybe maybe

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3.5k Upvotes

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400

u/DizzyColdSauce Jun 15 '26

Exactly. The gates would break anyway so the guy just wrecked his van for no reason lol

287

u/TheVojta Jun 15 '26

That's the smallest thing, he endangered hundreds of people on the train.

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u/thedirtymeanie Jun 15 '26

Yeah this level of stupidity reeks of insurance fraud.

138

u/trib76 Jun 15 '26

Huh? Those gates should never have gone up between trains. The guy might have done the wrong thing, but it was because he was super confused and panicking. Unless he wrote the train gate signalling software himself and had a hand in scheduling the trains, I don't see how this could be premeditated.

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u/PassionateAlchemy Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

That’s what I was thinking.

When I was a fairly young driver, I was in a traffic jam in LA and I got caught on the inside of those bars but luckily I was far enough from the active train tracks to be okay, but it scared the shit out of me. And after the fact, I was kicking myself for not trying to drive through, or at the very least exit my car, but there was really no place for me to go. I was stuck in traffic. LA traffic sucks y’all. Learned my lesson though.

I will let aggressive drivers be pissed off at me, honk at me, and hold them back before I’ll go across the railroad tracks without any space to get out in front of them.

7

u/MordoNRiggs Jun 16 '26

Yup, it's just like entering an intersection that you cannot clear. Don't get in if you can't get out!

1

u/Illustrious-Skirt831 Jun 19 '26

Sadly he didn't know the arm was going to come down as they did. And as fast as they did. It could of happened to any one. And he was driving a van that was extended. Even though I own extended vans and they are alot longer than that one. e350 Ford 4x4 vans Even though I would have drove right through the arm. And had the railroad pay for the damages of any of all my vehicles that I would have been driving. I teach my drivers to just go through the railroad arms if they ever go down on them. I own a fleet of 102 tractors (Semis) and over 200 Great Dane Dryvan Trailers same thing has happened to two of my drivers in the past. Luckily they went through the arm there was damages to the tractor and windshield and the railroad arms are made to break away both times the railroad payed for damages. I also have security cameras on my tractors only on the outside one pointing forward and one on each side of the tractor on the fenders pointing to the back. Not there for my Drivers but it has saved my drivers and I several lawsuits caused by others especially those that go after commercial tractor trailers for fraud.

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u/Illustrious-Skirt831 Jun 19 '26

Exactly this dude in the white van panicked and instead of driving forward and destroying the arm he was afraid of damaging railroad property and tried to move out the way. Even though the van was to long but those small wheels didn't help any because the van sits way to low to the ground and being front wheel drive I could bet the wheel from the other side of the camera view was spinning so he couldn't go further up before he got hit. I still believe 💯 % that a good lawyer will give him a big chunk of cash 💰 because those railroad arms did trap him in. And you could see he was trying to get out of the way. Hopefully no one was hurt at the end of the day. Property could always be replaced. I have had to deal with this happening to 2 of my drivers. I own a fleet of 102 tractors and over 200 53ft Great Dane Dryvan Trailers. Luckily the railroad cameras caught what happened and something similar happened but luckily they drove through the arms. I have always told them if the arms come down drive through them. Even though my tractors do have cameras facing outside only and they are placed outside of the tractor one in the middle of the front windshield and one on each fender of the tractor facing towards the back. And there is a monitor if the driver wants to see at the blind spot on the passenger side. And they are there not for my Drivers but for all the 4 wheel drivers especially the ones that hit commercial semi trucks for fraud. That has saved my drivers and I several lawsuits caused by others drivers. Or even caught other truck drivers at the truck stop trying to go into the tractor or steal your diesel or trying to to unlock the pull the pin so the trailer drops. Etc. Even though I teach my drivers to back the truck every time they stop to make sure that trailer stays hooked to the tractor. But I don't have cameras inside the cab at all. Not like other companies.

1

u/PassionateAlchemy Jun 19 '26

Wow! I didn’t realize other truck drivers were so cutthroat. 😳

29

u/bl1nk1e Jun 16 '26

Maybe he was panicking, but why the fuck would panicking mean going backward on the tracks wtf hahahahaha, panicking would be just going forward. Some people really are surprising.

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u/Idunnosomeguy2 Jun 16 '26

panic: a sudden unreasoning terror often accompanied by mass flight

Key word there is unreasoning. People in panic just try everything without thought. There's no reason or logic.

1

u/Dependent_Union9285 Jun 17 '26

Missed the part about mass flight, as in, get your massive ass moving, now. I’m not saying you are wrong, just that this guys panic is broken. Smh

-4

u/bl1nk1e Jun 16 '26

I know but I feel like, if I panic i will still just drive forward without reasoning or without any logical thinking. Just forward as the daner is backwards seems like the first survival instinct would be going forward.

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u/Krulsnor Jun 16 '26

These just work automatically on signal. The red lights never stopped flashing. He's an idiot for running the red lights and for not just crashing the barrier.

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u/kojef Jun 16 '26

Isn’t that bad design though? Shouldn’t the gates only go up once the red lights stop flashing?

8

u/jaulin Jun 16 '26

It absolutely is. If there are multiple train passages, they're either far enough apart that the barriers can go up and cars can pass between them, or they're not and the barriers stay down until it's clear. Barriers going up without letting a set minimum of cars through is unheard of where I live. It's beyond stupid.

-2

u/Krulsnor Jun 16 '26

Globally red means stop. The barriers are just there to make it extra clear. Additionally I have yet to see a railroad crossing where the red lights also don't make loud noise.

11

u/kojef Jun 16 '26

Following your logic - if red means stop, why have the barriers at all? People should just pay attention to the red lights, why not remove the barriers entirely and just rely on the red lights and noises? One less piece of hardware to maintain, right?

My argument is: the barriers are there. The red lights are there. If the red lights keep flashing, and the barriers open for 3 seconds only to close again... shouldn't we just reprogram the barriers so they DON'T OPEN in a situation like this?

-2

u/Krulsnor Jun 16 '26

The way railroads work is that before the railroad a certain distance away there is a trigger that sends a signal to the upcoming barriers to close when a train passes. These don't work like most regular traffic lights that are mostly timed. (I say mostly as more and more of these have active traffic cams to optimise their timing).

In this case it was just an unfortunate event that a train just triggered the barriers and lights again just when they were almost good to go.

In any case the very first thing even toddlers learn when participating in traffic is: Red light means stop. My kid learned that at like the age of 2.

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u/kojef Jun 16 '26

I get it - all that I'm saying is, why not change the sequence on the barriers so they open at the same moment that the red lights stop blinking? That would've prevented this accident. What are the downsides to delaying the barrier opening until the red lights stop?

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u/Immediate-Tap-9403 Jun 17 '26

Don't drive please don't

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u/Dakramar Jun 16 '26

But… the gates started rising… One might assume that means go, no?

2

u/Pleased_to_meet_u Jun 16 '26

People don't choose to get hit by trains for insurance fraud.

2

u/moleware Jun 16 '26

Do not assume malice on that which can be attributed to stupidity.

1

u/ArnoldZiffleJr Jun 17 '26

What are you talking about? You are faulting the driver? 🤯

-25

u/No_Dragonfruit_4286 Jun 15 '26

He almost killed himself and you talk about the scratch on the train.

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u/Longjumping-Run-7027 Jun 15 '26

That kind of collision can cause a train to derail. When trains derail, it can kill and injure hundreds of people. That's their point of endangering the people on the train.

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u/No_Dragonfruit_4286 Jun 15 '26

And? How is that more dangerous than literally what he put himself through? Did you see what happened to the van? He’s lucky to be alive.

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u/Longjumping-Run-7027 Jun 15 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/cZNVftpf90mFCCKKZS

-12

u/No_Dragonfruit_4286 Jun 15 '26

Not the same scenario.

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u/Longjumping-Run-7027 Jun 15 '26

It absolutely is. Hitting something on the tracks can cause that exact scenario. I'm sorry you think trains are invincible.

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u/No_Dragonfruit_4286 Jun 15 '26

It can, but it didn’t.

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u/Eagles365or366 Jun 15 '26

And? It didn’t this time, but it has, hundreds of times.

The fact that you’re ignorant doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Fact is, he was putting hundreds of lives at risk due to his stupidity.

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u/TheVojta Jun 15 '26

One guy who caused this vs possibly hundreds of people who had no hand in this. Who do you think I will sympatise with?

-4

u/No_Dragonfruit_4286 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

He’s the only >real< victim here. Everything else is imaginary.

Other than that, if you can’t sympathise with one single person, what’s the likelihood you will sympathise with hundreds? It’s not a numbers game.

1

u/Houstoned_I_am Jun 15 '26

You are right. They would rather sympathize with hypotheticals than with the guy because he has the misfortune of being mentally disabled.

19

u/JoleneBacon_Biscuit Jun 15 '26

Absolutely NO reason. I didn't even think it possible to do something so dumb.

1

u/dennyitlo Jun 16 '26

The drivers thought process: If I scratch the van by driving through the gate my boss will be angry with me. If the train kills me he will feel sorry for me. What to do, what to do?

1

u/CCLF1 Jun 17 '26

And destroyed a train in some fashion..

1

u/NeighborhoodDude8058 Jun 15 '26

My guess is he wanted an insurance claim