Good example...
Although it took me a second or two to realize why driving in a German Car was relevent. (I think I need to read slower)

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Reminds me of the best line I've ever heard regarding GPS. It was a comedian I think, spoofing reliance on them. The driver missed the turn and the unit, in a comicly machine voice simulation dutifully and politely informed him that his destination was 25,000 miles straight ahead.

__________________
Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

GPS is a tool, like fire or a knife. You can use it well or you can use it badly. Some people cook a steak and cut it up, others burn down the house and slice up their hand. I love my GPS unit and, so far, have not killed anyone.

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Here we go again.
Good Samaritan pulls man from train tracks minutes before fiery collision
Alcohol involved...

With video link of the collision.

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

My mum got a Tomtom for crissy as a present and on her first trip with it up to her work(about 140km each way) it was going absolutely bonkers, saying she was speeding and she had to turn right immediately

She was on a new stretch of freeway that was opened just before Christmas with a 110 kmh speed limit that bypasses a town with 60 and 80 kmh limits

The gps was showing her barrelling through a field at 110 past a speed camera and didn't know what to make of it.

Its a shame that she now basically leaves the gps unit off on that trip as for about 15-20 km it constantly sounds alerts alerts and judging by how often whereis updates the maps here in Australia, it probably will still not be updated by the time she retires in less than a year. Shame as its exceed speed limit feature is one of its best points as these days you can lose your lisc quite quickly here in n.s.w. for inadvertantly exceeding the limit a couple of times.

__________________
Surely if you are going to start a conspiracy theory it is best to start with something that might have a grain of truth or reality in it. To start with the preposterous and go downhill from there is just stupid. steve(primus) (Avatar)

More videos on the way!

__________________
*

Two more local ones...
Mom In Court After Child Injured On Train Tracks
While an officer watched... Ok, this is a case of two trains, but lights and gates?
But, but, but, the first car made it.

And this on... the train doesn't even have to be moving.
Woman Killed After Hitting Stopped Train
I also heard on the radio that the crossing lights were working.

Not exactly a blind crossing according to the associated pic.

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

"Confused, and perhaps distracted while trying to get directions from her friend on her cell phone, DeVall pulled onto a set of railroad tracks, unaware that an Amtrak passenger train on its way from New..."

It doesn't matter whether she was unaware of Amtrak's schedule. How couldn't she have been unaware that she was on a set of railroad tracks?

That's sort of the same league as in, "I wasn't aware I was on the runway of an international airport."

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

There were three separate fatal train-pedestrian accidents in the last two days in this area. Two of them involved high-speed Acela trains on the NYC-Boston route.

In one case, the train hit a group of track inspectors near Providence. One killed, two injured. Apparently they were in a blind area and didn't hear it coming.

The second incident (in Connecticut) injured a woman and killed her dog. She said she did hear the train coming but thought it was on a different track.

I haven't heard the details of the third incident.

__________________
Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

Uh, where is the common sense on the way?

Uh, experiece, anyone?

Gosh, what's not getting us killed?

Evolution?

I am very respectful of those who have lost their loved ones. And please, trust me - I've come closer on more than one occasion.

But hey... evolution is a journey.

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

Maybe you didn't quote enough of the original report, but what you have here doesn't suggest anything about her not knowing Amtrak's schedule.

You know what I can't understand is when pedestrians get hit by trains. I have heard, many times over, that when you are on the tracks, you can't hear the train. I grew up three houses down from the RR tracks that intersected our street. Against my mothers rule, we used the tracks as a short cut to the local convenience store and not once did a train ever "sneak up" on me. I am not bashing people that have been injured or killed in this way, just baffled at how it can happen. How do you not hear the most common used referrence to loud noises, coming?

Good question. I could understand not hearing a relatively quiet high speed electric, but a good old fashioned diesel powered locomotive? How do you not hear that?

I grew up around trains, lived 3 houses down from one of the biggest yards in Chicago for a while. Dad was a Rock Island engineer so I spent a good amount of time in the roundhouse, in cabooses, locomotive cabs, etc.

One possibility is maybe getting hit by one of the passenger trains that is being pushed by the locomotive instead of being pulled.

__________________
Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Earphones. Maybe they're listening to music and it drowns out the train sound.
High winds or highway traffic could also cover the noise until it's too late.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Supersonic trains?


Seriously, though... if the environment is otherwise noisy (right beside a major highway, nearby construction, etc.) the engine could get pretty close before it becomes clearly identifiable. In some cases that might be too late.

__________________
Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

And there's still the distinctive singing tracks to warn you long before you can hear the engine.
Basically it's people raising the average of the species.

__________________
And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Agreed Henrik, the ground also vibrates. Blasting headphones while walking on RR tracks really should qualify you for the Darwin awards, maybe second place. Mine was a relatively quiet neighborhood, barring the occassional train, so traffic wouldn't play a major roll in drowing out, so I guess that is a good point. Still, there are distinct warnings of an approaching train.

Farmer, I have to ask. When you were a kid and friends slept over, did they have a hard time sleeping through the passing trains? That was a major complaint at my house, but I find the sound of a train horn to be a sound of home. I always long to be back on my old street. I live no where near tracks now and honestly miss the sound...

Video:Girls maimed by train

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

My Garmin Nuvi isn't the most accurate device, either, and occasionally gives me directions which are completely out to lunch.

Fortunately, somewhere in the last 20 years I learned to read a map, as well as to ignore my Garmin when it's out to lunch.

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

What moron sunbaths on train tracks? I hope they're not suing the company for damages, as that would be as idiotic as jumping off a cliff