Man Drives into Train

[Werewolf]

train emergency brakes are quite brutal.

aye and I'd imagine to be honest they have to be
The sort of forces involved must be quite impressive.

There is also very little in the way of features to reduce whiplash in train seating etc (unlike cars/coaches) as they tend not to be in incidents that would benefit from it.

I'm guessing the guy's insurance company did not have a nice day when the bill came in from network rail etc, even if the train suffered no major damage there is likely to be fairly hefty bill for giving it a full inspection (and any "minor" repairs - do the brakes need work after an emergency stop?), inspecting the tracks and cleaning them up, and if the train company can claim back any costs associated with the crash from things like disruption to service.
At least this idiot didn't manage to derail the train and kill a load of people.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Could have derailed that easily. Wow.

That’s happened before now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selby_rail_crash

 

[jsmoke]

Something to tell the grandkids about.

 

[Semple]

Guess there's a few elements - nobody died, and there was no intent. If he'd done it on purpose, or killed a load of people, then yeah the sentence would've been worse!

Pretty much this.

No, but he did drink drive and obstruct justice.

You don't normally get custodial sentences for drink driving. If you killed someone behind the wheel while drunk then you'd normally get them dished out. You might get a shortish sentence if you were driving dangerously to evade justice even if you managed to avoid killing anyone.

 

[azazl187]

Barely a prang. It's a glancing blow that anyone could/would survive. They should have just let him off

 

[sanaxe1]

Looks like this signal man wanted more training.

 

[Drangueos]

I'm guessing the guy's insurance company did not have a nice day when the bill came in from network rail etc, even if the train suffered no major damage there is likely to be fairly hefty bill for giving it a full inspection (and any "minor" repairs - do the brakes need work after an emergency stop?), inspecting the tracks and cleaning them up, and if the train company can claim back any costs associated with the crash from things like disruption to service.

I think most insurance companies will void the insurance policy if the driver was DUI

 

[bazzabear]

I think most insurance companies will void the insurance policy if the driver was DUI

They can't. They can (I think) refuse to pay out to the customer, but they certainly can't refuse to pay out to third parties. That's exactly why insurance was made a legal requirement, so that third parties are always covered.

They might, on the other hand, then try to recoup their costs from the insured party.

 

[Nasher]

They have to pay out to the third party, but you will have broken the agreement by being drunk so you won't be insured.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

I would be interesting to know if / what it cost to repair the train as I doubt thats cheap!

There was another link that gave more detail I read a few days ago can't seem to find it now, anyway it said it caused a 1/3 of a million quids worth of damage. Wonder who got to pick up that bill.

Barely a prang. It's a glancing blow that anyone could/would survive. They should have just let him off

'Tis just a scratch! Lying to police, damaging a train causing a potential derailment jumping a level crossing causing whiplash and being a signalman as well as drunk driving, its nothing clearly the judge is an idiot!

 

[azazl187]

There was another link that gave more detail I read a few days ago can't seem to find it now, anyway it said it caused a 1/3 of a million quids worth of damage. Wonder who got to pick up that bill.



'Tis just a scratch! Lying to police, damaging a train causing a potential derailment jumping a level crossing causing whiplash and being a signalman as well as drunk driving, its nothing clearly the judge is an idiot!

I know!!! That's what I thought. Slap on the wrist and a small fine I'd say

 

[Diddums]

Trains are built like brick **** houses. I am a little bit sceptical about the whiplash claims from the passengers, but maybe it was worse than it looked from the footage.

I've been on a train as is smashed in to a Clio, suicide. Trust me - those trains can stop on a dime if needed, I think the impact from all us passengers hitting the opposite seats actually pushed the train forward another meter. The train was doing 87mph (140kph, cruising speed).

Side note: There was nothing left of that Clio. And I mean absolutely nothing, the whole car was turned in to a little minced cage. I only know it was a Renault because of a wheeltrim lying on the side of the tracks, and found out it was a Clio when the story hit the papers.

It was one of these:

 

[dlockers]

Had to read that a few times, was trying to work out how it was a signalman's fault that a car crashed into a train when the barriers were down

snap. Couldn't correlate any of the words

 

[Nasher]

A few people getting injured during emergency braking is an acceptable loss if it means keeping the train on the tracks.

 

[Fluffybob]

Lucky he's not in the running for a Darwin award ! !

 

[Greebo]

A few people getting injured during emergency braking is an acceptable loss if it means keeping the train on the tracks.

Nobody was disputing that but somebody asked how did so many people get whiplash injuries when the car barely affected the train - answer the emergency brakes.

 

[Quartz]

That’s happened before now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selby_rail_crash

I suffer from occasional insomnia. One morning I rang work to say I wouldn’t be coming in because I hadn’t slept. They tried to get me to come in so I asked them to remember Selby. They shut up real quick.