Passenger Trains > SMART vs. blithering idiot bicyclist

S.M.A.R.T. Train and Bicyclist Collide

On October 19, 2017 at about 1555 hours, the Santa Rosa Police Department received reports that a S.M.A.R.T. Train had collided with a bicyclist at West Steele Lane and the tracks.

Arriving officers and emergency medical personnel found the victim, a 19-year-old Santa Rosa man, had been riding his bicycle east on W. Steele Lane. The bicyclist, who was riding on the north side of the roadway, was wearing earphones and talking on his cellular phone. He apparently did not notice that the rail crossing arms were down and that the train was coming. The southbound train was traveling at approximately 30 miles per hour. Upon seeing the bicyclist approaching the rail road crossing, the train engineer activated the brakes and sounded the horn but could not stop in time to avoid a collision with the bicyclist. The train struck the bicyclist as he crossed the tracks throwing him about 20-30 feet south across W. Steele Ln. The bicycle he was riding became lodged under the right front train wheel.

The bicyclist was treated by medical personnel at the scene and taken to the hospital for further treatment of injuries that are not considered to be immediately life threatening. There was no damage to the train.

-Santa Rosa Police Department



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/17 17:08 by GenePoon.

"Stupid is as stupid does."

-Forrest Gump

Sad but true.

John

---

I agree that this behavior is totally dumb.
However, I'm glad the cyclist wasn't fatally injured.

Where were the crossing flaggers - on a contractual chamomile tea break?

Classic case of rectal-cranial inversion. The cyclist will likely have another Darwinian event in the future and will not be so lucky at that time. I'm sure we'll read about it.

-John

Im sure the person wouldn't have notice the flaggers.
If he didnt know the crossing arms, flashing lights and bells

Lurch_in_ABQ Wrote:
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> Where were the crossing flaggers - on a
> contractual chamomile tea break?

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

boy he was a lucky guy. Thank God he will be OK.

No more flaggers. FRA signed off on both crossing protection and PTC. That was a requirement before scheduled service could begin.

Grade crossing protection had been signed off prior to PTC. The limited passenger service prior to commencement of scheduled service was prior to PTC signoff and was limited to one train on the line at a time.

Does this count as SMART's first grade crossing accident?

John Webb
Trinidad, CA

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sad but true.
>
> John

I've been observing for several years now. Technology is making us dumber. I'm trying to vigilant, but I don't think there's a cure.

Smartphone - social addiction. Earphones - aural addiction. Add that to the "sense of entitlement" bicyclists are enjoying due to political "activism" where the arrogance of bicycle riders in recent years have risen to dangerous levels, although that's just my opinion.

There's a good chance the bicyclist might have suffered a concussion and don't remember what happened. Hope at least his pain is real, so he won't forget, but that's a topic for another addiction.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wa4umr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sad but true.
> >
> > John
>
Add that to the "sense of entitlement"
> bicyclists are enjoying due to political
> "activism" where the arrogance of bicycle riders
> in recent years have risen to dangerous levels,
> although that's just my opinion.
>
There has long been a sense of entitlement and arrogance among motorists and grade crossing accidents with automobiles continue to be a major transportation safety issue in the United States. Please do not single out bicyclists.

There's a difference between assertive riding and arrogance or entitlement. It can be a fine line, though.

A cyclist has to constantly make judgements about what is and isn't safe. Sometimes, the safest course is to do things that motorists might perceive as arrogant, such as "claiming a lane" on a narrow section of road with no shoulder, where there's no room for a car and a bicycle to safely split a lane. Or making direct, intrusive eye contact with motorists at an intersection, to make sure they see you. Or balancing the danger of rolling through a stop sign with the possibility of being rear-ended - a real possibility on a busy, shoulder-less road.

Get it right, and you're safe but motorists are likely annoyed. Get it wrong, and you're dead. And the motorist is still just annoyed.

But then there's stupid riding. There's no excuse for it. The cyclist in this incident was extremely lucky.

cchan006 Wrote:

>Add that to the "sense of entitlement"
> bicyclists are enjoying due to political
> "activism" where the arrogance of bicycle riders
> in recent years have risen to dangerous levels,
> although that's just my opinion.

doing anything moving with earbuds is recipe for disaster, they are telling people that are hiking and biking in colorado, due to rattlesnakes alone. we had a death last week, they usually hibernate by oct 20th here

I ride my bicycle over 2000 miles each year. This post is right on.

I still have incidents with cars because drivers are completely arrogant and clueless.

Cyclists have all the rights and responsibilities that car drivers have in my state. That means that I can ride in the middle of a lane at 20 MPH or whatever speed. I do that when there is no shoulder to ride on. Car drivers seem to have a huge problem with that.

Fortunately I have not had to visit the hospital because of this yet.

TiBike Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's a difference between assertive riding and
> arrogance or entitlement. It can be a fine line,
> though.
>
> A cyclist has to constantly make judgements about
> what is and isn't safe. Sometimes, the safest
> course is to do things that motorists might
> perceive as arrogant, such as "claiming a lane" on
> a narrow section of road with no shoulder, where
> there's no room for a car and a bicycle to safely
> split a lane. Or making direct, intrusive eye
> contact with motorists at an intersection, to make
> sure they see you. Or balancing the danger of
> rolling through a stop sign with the possibility
> of being rear-ended - a real possibility on a
> busy, shoulder-less road.
>
> Get it right, and you're safe but motorists are
> likely annoyed. Get it wrong, and you're dead. And
> the motorist is still just annoyed.
>
> But then there's stupid riding. There's no excuse
> for it. The cyclist in this incident was extremely
> lucky.
>
> cchan006 Wrote:
>
> >Add that to the "sense of entitlement"
> > bicyclists are enjoying due to political
> > "activism" where the arrogance of bicycle
> riders
> > in recent years have risen to dangerous levels,
> > although that's just my opinion.

Winnemucca Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does this count as SMART's first grade crossing
> accident?


Yes it does.

Regards,

-Frank C.

Frank Christ
Cloverdale, CA
FranksRails Photography, LLC.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No more flaggers. FRA signed off on both crossing
> protection and PTC. That was a requirement before
> scheduled service could begin.
>
> Grade crossing protection had been signed off
> prior to PTC. The limited passenger service prior
> to commencement of scheduled service was prior to
> PTC signoff and was limited to one train on the
> line at a time.

As of two weeks ago we still had flaggers at Landfill and Fulton Road. Flaggers as needed at crossings that break down mid-day...Either way, no flaggers at the crossing where this took place.

Regards,

-Frank C.

Frank Christ
Cloverdale, CA
FranksRails Photography, LLC.