28 hours!

https://viewfromthewing.com/no-food...ped-on-plane-after-black-rainstorm-diversion/

OMG!!!

Fast forward a decade and a man with a cell phone on a delayed flight became a national hero. 198 passengers on board Northwest Airlines 1829 were famously delayed in January 1999. The flight had diverted, and then the next day sat on the tarmac in Detroit for 7 hours. Toilets overflowed, food and water ran out, the cabin filled with a stench, and passengers threatened to open an emergency door.

One passenger figured out how to dial the Northwest’s CEO at home. John Dasburg’s wife answered. Eventually the captain spoke directly to the CEO, and they got a gate and everyone finally made it off the aircraft.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/poland/comments/1mj9kt1

 

The driver was stupid. He knew he was trapped on the wrong side of the barrier. He should have driven through the barrier.
The barrier on entry had not yet come down, allow the truck to enter. He had time before the barrier came down in front of him. He should have gunned it!

 

The design of the railroad barrier is flawed.

1) There should be flashing lights before the barriers are activated.
2) The entry barriers should be activated before the exit barriers are closed.
3) Instead of (2), there should be no barrier on the exit side of the crossing. In other words, the barrier should span only one lane of the road.

 

The design of the railroad barrier is flawed.

1) There should be flashing lights before the barriers are activated.
2) The entry barriers should be activated before the exit barriers are closed.
3) Instead of (2), there should be no barriers on the exit side of the road. In other words, the barrier should span only half of the width of the road.

View attachment 353842

The barriers on the entry side did come down first. The driver had plenty of time to get across before the exit barrier came down -- but he just stopped and hesitated too long, probably in response to the entry barrier coming down for the oncoming side of the road. After that, his decision making went from bad to worse. As for the flashing lights, the video begins as the entry barriers are starting to come down, but the lights are clearly already flashing, so there is no reason to think that they didn't start flashing well before the barriers came down.

A lot of places have gone to either full-width barriers or, like this one, both entry and exit barriers due to the number of idiots that simply drive around entry-only barriers.

 

I don't know...but "exit barrier" seems like a strange term.

So, what is the point of an "exit barrier"...to keep idiots trapped in the crossing?

 

The "exit barrier" is probably there on two way roads to prevent idiots on the opposite side from entering the area.

 

Any barrier placed to prevent "entry" would be an "entry barrier".

As is the case with all of the barriers at a RR crossing.

Hard to see the illogic of having an "exit barrier" at a RR crossing?

 

Any barrier placed to prevent "entry" would be an "entry barrier".

As is the case with all of the barriers at a RR crossing.

Hard to see the illogic of having an "exit barrier" at a RR crossing?

You meant to say: "Hard to see the logic of having an "exit barrier" at a RR crossing?"

If idiots want to defeat the safety system, they are entitled to the Darwinian award.
This is a case of an innocent overly cautious driver caught in a badly designed barrier system.

 

This is a case of an innocent overly cautious driver caught in a badly designed barrier system.

Surely an overly cautious driver would have heeded the flashing warning lights and stopped before the barrier?

 

You meant to say: "Hard to see the logic of having an "exit barrier" at a RR crossing?"

If idiots want to defeat the safety system, they are entitled to the Darwinian award.
This is a case of an innocent overly cautious driver caught in a badly designed barrier system.

No, I said exactly what I meant.

I'm not criticizing the crossing, I'm criticizing the term "exit barrier" because there is no such thing.

 

I made up the term "exit barrier" because I didn't know what else to call it.
I don't see the need for it.

Where I grew up, there were no barriers, no flashing lights, at railway crossings.
It was up to you to look both ways before crossing.

 

Where I grew up, there were no barriers, no flashing lights, at railway crossings.
It was up to you to look both ways before crossing.

There was usually a reminder: "Stop. Look. Listen."

Generally good advice -- beyond RR crossings.

 

Any barrier placed to prevent "entry" would be an "entry barrier".

As is the case with all of the barriers at a RR crossing.

Hard to see the illogic of having an "exit barrier" at a RR crossing?

It's called an "exit barrier" (although I've usually seen it referred to as "entry-side barrier" and "exit-side barrier" in writing, but in conversation the "-side" is often omitted) because the term "entry barrier" is already used. On a given lane of traffic, you have two sides of the track -- the entrance to the crossing and the exit from the crossing. A barrier placed at the entrance is an entry barrier and a battier placed at the exit is an exit barrier. The name described the location of the barrier, not its purpose.

 

I made up the term "exit barrier" because I didn't know what else to call it.
I don't see the need for it.

Where I grew up, there were no barriers, no flashing lights, at railway crossings.
It was up to you to look both ways before crossing.

I've usually seen split barriers referred to as having an entry and an exit side. So your use of the term merely reflects the natural naming of something that we humans generally follow.

 

It's called an "exit barrier" (although the industry may well have a different official name for it) because the term "entry barrier" is already used. On a given lane of traffic, you have two sides of the track -- the entrance to the crossing and the exit from the crossing. A barrier placed at the entrance is an entry barrier and a battier placed at the exit is an exit barrier. The name described the location of the barrier, not its purpose.

The whole package is called a "Four Quadrant Gate".

 

 

This is still crazy every time I look at this.
Yes, the red lights were flashing. The driver still had time to get across. He had 4 seconds before the barrier came down on the other lane and 10 seconds before the barrier came down in front of him.

Even if the van was going 10 mph, it would have gone 30 feet in 2 seconds, or 9 m @ 16 km/h.

 

I wonder how old the driver was and how much driving experience he had. Could just be a case of inexperience causing a cascading chain of poor decisions as the hamster went flying off the wheel.