Re: Something to think about

I have to this point been very lucky in my career in avoiding such high speed collisions. Recently while working for a northern mid-western shortline, a freind of mine there wacked a car at a crossing. He was going the legal limit of 25 mph, but center punched a Chevy Tahoe hard enough to kill the driver (who was NOT wearing a seatbelt). What amazed me was how the local law enforcement treated the train crew as criminals. Refused to allow them to talk to RR Officals and demanded they be hauled in for a bloodtest (FRA requires a simple urine test). Another incident I heard of there involved a drunk person plowing into the middle of a moving train. Train was moving at 30 mph, car moving an estimated 80+ mph.
The train crew had no idea anything happened as the car hit about 40 cars deep at an unprotected crossing. The local authorities had the train stopped at the next town, where the County Mounties tried to arrest the crew for leaving the scene of an accident.
Every law enforcement officer needs to attend an Operation Lifesaver class. They need to be made to understand that a train is not another "motor vehicle". They need to understand "vehicles can stop - trains can't".
I had the same law enforcement problems in Chama. Fuel truck drivers coming east from Farmington liked to go through Chama because there is no port of entry into CO on HWY 17. They were constantly roaring through the RR crossings without at much as slowing down (DOT regs require Hazmat carriers to stop at all RR xings). Calls to the carriers, were useless, finally I followed one off Cumbres who was doing over 70 across many crossings. I called NM State Police on my cell phone. The response was "........oh, well that's a tourist train....it doesn't count..."
But to get back to the original point (and to tie this to the narrow gauge), I did have the unpleasant experience of hitting a distraught oriental tourist while working for the LK&P in Hawaii. He decided to end it all and figured that a 25 ton Porter 2-4-0 thundering up a hill at 12 mph was the way to go. Well,.... he got his way.
......and yes, I will never forget it.