What Would You Do In This Situation?

Brett but I still think it's important to consider beyond the second driver's actions.

You also have to consider that you only know what you can see from your perspective. You don't know what other drivers can see from their perspective or what they may be planning. When you make decisions that affect vehicles around you, you're making the assumption you know what's best for them or that you know what they are about to do. That is a very dangerous game.

Think about this.........what causes every multi-vehicle accident? It's simple - one driver did something another driver didn't expect. If you knew a driver on a cross-street was about to run his red light, you would find a way to avoid the collision. If you knew a truck would blow a steer tire and swerve into your lane, you would make sure you weren't in that lane when it happened. Multi-vehicle accidents happen because one vehicle did something unpredictable and another vehicle had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When a driver is unpredictable, they're dangerous. Old School predictably pulled into the available space ahead of him. He had no way of knowing what the driver behind him could see from his perspective or what the driver behind him was planning to do. What if the other driver had already assumed Old School would pull ahead, as he should, and had something else planned? By staying back and not filling the available space, Old School might have created a problem he was unaware of.

You want to drive as predictably as possible. Once in a while, I'll see someone make a nice gesture by giving up the right of way to let someone else go first. For instance, they'll stop on a two-lane road to let a truck pull out. It's a nice gesture, but it's also very dangerous because it's unpredictable. No one behind that driver expects him to stop suddenly for no apparent reason. You can cause a major wreck by doing something unpredictable.

So Old School did the right thing. He did the obvious and predictable thing. He pulled into the available space ahead of him. Old School should not have stayed on his side of the tracks and held up traffic. It's not his job to manipulate the surrounding vehicles. He's not a traffic cop. It's his job to drive his own vehicle safely and predictably, and that's what he did. Nothing more, nothing less.

The guy behind him made an egregious error by pulling onto railroad tracks before knowing he'd be able to clear them on the other side. You never, ever do that. The responsibility for that lies 100% with the other driver.

Yes, I can see the point Brett is making now that I think more about it. Old School obviously knew he had the space to cross the tracks. How could he predict another truck would pull up behind and straddle the tracks? Probably 99 drivers out of 100 would know not to straddle RR tracks. Reminds me of the saying: "You can't fix stupid".

When I was in training, there were many, many railroad tracks around our training routes. Most were just spurs into industrial facilities. One day, I messed up and didn't cross the tracks correctly. My instructor said this to me: "Bruce, you just killed us all. Thank you." I'll never forget that incident and I was forever cautious about RR crossings thereafter.

Another thing I was taught: Never be out of gear when crossing RR tracks. Find your gear before crossing and don't shift again until you are safely clear of the tracks.

Thank the Lord you had a CB.

And that the other driver did too... and it was on, he was monitoring it, etc....

All good stuff! Thanks All!

One thing I liked about my CDL license training was the variety of driving trainers. (We had one classroom/range instructor but 5 or 6 different road "coaches"). Each one brought different experiences, perspectives, approaches, etc. to the table.

The one thing I DIDN'T LIKE was EACH ONE HAD A DIFFERENT TAKE ON CROSSING RAILS!

Window down... or not! Slow down... or not! Downshift... (you guessed it...) OR NOT! With every change (every 2 or 3 outings) we would be "informed" of what we were doing wrong when doing EXACTLY what was "right" the last time.

Wanted to get them all together... MAKE THEM AGREE AND MAKE THEM TEACH IT ALL THE SAME!

LOVE to get inputs on "best practices" here!

I was always taught in my Bus training to put 4 ways on then slow down to a complete stop open my doors ( if in a school bus , not Transit ) look both directions twice and listen then close door if necessary and proceed across, after crossing turn off 4 ways . I was also told by a few instructors and vet drivers to have space enough for your vehicle plus a third on the other side .

WHAT IF... What if OS couldn't get the grain truck to pull up, and the flat bed was hauling hazmat....?

What if OS got the grain truck to pull up through the light, but a car ran into the truck that just ran the red light ?

I'd much rather have OS block the tracks for a few min. A typical red light is shorter in duration than a radio break for commercials.

"So Old School did the right thing. He did the obvious and predictable thing. He pulled into the available space ahead of him. Old School should not have stayed on his side of the tracks and held up traffic. It's not his job to manipulate the surrounding vehicles. He's not a traffic cop. It's his job to drive his own vehicle safely and predictably, and that's what he did. Nothing more, nothing less."

That right there sums it up for me personally. You could "what if" this alot of different ways. Had this driver gotten hit and than came along TT asking for advice on what to do next. I don't believe the response would of been anything other than why did YOU pull onto a set of railroad tracks when you obviously had no room to cross? That's how I look at it. Old School did as he should of.

For those who think Old School should have held up traffic on his side of the tracks to prevent other vehicles from getting stuck on the tracks, let me ask you some questions:

1) How willing are you to give up control of your own vehicle? If I were to get on the CB and say, "Listen buddy, I've been driving a long time, a lot longer than you have, and I know what I'm doing. I don't trust you to make the right decisions out here so I'm going to tell you what to do. You do as I say." How well would that go over with you? Would you want other drivers making decisions for you?

2) If that train had hit the truck behind Old School, they must hold someone accountable. Would you want Old School to be prosecuted for unsafe driving, or possibly manslaughter if the other driver had been killed? You can't have it both ways. Either he did the right thing, or he did the wrong thing. Which is it?

3) Let's take #2 a step further. What if the driver had been killed in that wreck and you had been in Old School's position? The police put you in cuffs, load you into the backseat, and drive you to jail on manslaughter charges. Do you feel like that would be justice? Should you be held accountable for the other driver stopping on the tracks? Picture yourself in cuffs, your life, and everything you've worked for is over. How would you feel?

Keep something in mind. The world has no shortage of people who think they know a lot more than they do. In fact, you share the road with some of these people every day. They often feel so strongly about being right that they feel compelled to take control of situations or advise people on their best course of action. Terminal Rats are a great example. They think they have it all figured out so they feel compelled to spread the word and warn people about the perils of life in the trucking industry. Now, do you want to drive on a roadway where people like that start making decisions for other drivers? Do you really want people deciding what you can or can not do with your truck?

No one should think about driving other vehicles or making decisions for others. Mind your own business, drive your own vehicle. You have plenty to worry about yourself. Yes, you can show others courtesy on the roadways, and you should, but be careful you're not inadvertently creating a dangerous situation by doing something unpredictable.

You've heard of unintended consequences? When you overstep your bounds you're going to create a lot of unintended consequences.

What Brett said makes sense. What really boggles my mind is that a CDL driver didn't know not to straddle RR tracks? What is more basic than that? I know that if Old School saw there wasn't enough space for him to clear the tracks, he would have stayed back. I hope that driver was awake enough to understand what a dangerous mistake he made.