Won't they ever learn? [[Car Vs. Train)

**Meddle** · December-13-09, 11:26 PM

A couple was killed early this morning when their car slammed into the freight train it was trying to outrun in Taylor.

The crash happened shortly after 1 a.m. today on the tracks at Goddard west of Pelham, Taylor Police Lt. Brian Raboczkay said.

“There were other cars stopped for the railroad crossing and he sped around those cars in the center lane and he hit the train at the sixth boxcar down,” said Raboczkay.

He confirmed the crossing equipment was working.

Raboczkay wouldn’t release the names of the people in the car, but James Osborn, 77, of Lincoln Park, said his 28-year-old grandson, David Osborn, who lives with him, was the driver of the Chevrolet.

The senior Osborn was able only to confirm that the passenger was his grandson’s girlfriend.

“I don’t know why he was even there,” the grieving grandfather said today, adding that David Osborn is survived by a 9-year-old son, Blake.

David Osborn and his passenger were was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

The accident remains under investigation.

The collision comes five months after another fatal car-train crash in Wayne County. Five people, four of them teenagers, were killed in July when they tried to get across tracks at Hannan Road in Canton and were struck by an oncoming Amtrak train.

Witnesses in that incident also reported that the train-warning equipment was working and that the car swerved around a waiting SUV in an effort to beat the train.

Contact ZLATI MEYER : 313-223-4439 or meyer@freepress.com

http://freep.com/article/20091213/NE...o-outrun-train

I don't understand why people do this.

**DetroitTeacher** · December-14-09, 05:42 AM

Seems to me that he was trying to hit the train. If he hit the 6th car of a train then it was well into the intersection when he drove past the other cars. Maybe his GF was breaking up with him on the ride home...mere speculation, of course.

lilpup · December-14-09, 07:26 AM

yeah, there's been a rise in on the track fatalities over the year

just read a piece that said suicide-by-cop incidents have also been rising

**Pam** · December-14-09, 08:20 AM

I don't understand why people do this.

Because they are idiots.

**Maof** · December-14-09, 08:33 AM

geez, i don't get it either. if your going to end your life, there is less painful ways of doing it.

**Detroit Stylin** · December-14-09, 08:35 AM

Depression can cause one to think rather unrationally at some of the most inopportune times....never write that off....

**Novine** · December-14-09, 09:22 AM

Or extreme intoxication. Going by the time, I'm going with alcohol as a factor.

**DanFromDetroit** · December-14-09, 10:33 AM

I thought drunks never got hurt in a crash?

lilpup · December-14-09, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Novine

Or extreme intoxication. Going by the time, I'm going with alcohol as a factor.

Alcohol is a depressant.

**Oilcan Harry** · December-14-09, 12:53 PM

I'm a railfan and toy train collecter and I don't know why people do this either. If you beat the train you win I guess. But if you don't, you lose, and if its a tie, you STILL lose. A car or a pickup is like a bug on the windshield of a locomotive.
What amazes me is people want to blame the railroad and demand crossing gates for every crossing where an accident occurs. Never mind that the crossing may have operated for decades without an incident. Nevermind that crossing gate systems run around $300,000 to $400,000 each to install, plus the cost operation and maintainance. People still DRIVE AROUND THEM AND GET KILLED! It got so bad in Indiana about 25 years ago they had to start a special education program to teach folks what you would think would be obvious. The "Stop, Look, and Listen" program.
Like comedian Ron White says "You can't fix stupid". Maybe if you're that dumb you need to be removed from the gene pool.

**Meddle** · December-14-09, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitTeacher

Seems to me that he was trying to hit the train. If he hit the 6th car of a train ...

Yeah, that part didn't make sense to me either. To think you were clear and hit the 6th car, it seems the train would have to be moving very fast.

**Gsgeorge** · December-14-09, 02:16 PM

Survival of the fittest. I have no remorse for absolute stupidity.

**Grundyke** · December-14-09, 03:38 PM

A guy tried this by me in Holly last year as well.

**FlyingJ** · December-14-09, 03:40 PM

I dunno what the dealers put in all those Downriver cars that make the drivers think they can beat the trains...

Oilcan Harry , remember, even in a tie with a Heavyweight, you lose

Several years ago when my Metrolink[[now there's a railroad with problems...) was cancelled thanx 2 a suicide, the conductor explained they preferred to suppress news of train suicides in December because that only caused suicide clusters....