Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as dumb luck.
I’ve written here on several occasions about the constantly recurring tragedies of grade crossing accidents … when trains strike cars and trucks where highways cross railroad tracks.
It’s hard to imagine a circumstance when one of those incidents could legitimately be called and accident because, in case after case, subsequent investigation determine that they were avoidable. Chalk them up to carelessness, inattention or just plain stupidity on the part of the driver.
And so – speaking of stupidity – we have the recent case of a 22-year-old German student who was tossed off a train in the town of Lauenbrueck because he didn’t have a ticket. Apparently thinking that was some kind of an injustice, this moron dropped his pants and stuck his bare butt up against the window of the departing train.
But … uh-oh … his pants got hung up on the door of the railcar and he was carried along, bare butt in the air, for 200 yards until someone hit the emergency brake and the train came to a stop.
Somehow, the guy escaped with minor cuts and bruises, but is now facing the legal consequences that could result in a fine plus a big assessment for damages.
I saw that, too.Clearly more explanation is needed. It’s not uncommon for a car, traveling at high speed and at night, to run into the side of a moving train. In those cases, the car is “over-driving its headlights” … moving too fast to stop in time once the headlights reveal the train. But a semi? I don’t think so! Something strange about this one. Perhaps there will be a follow-up story.
Clearly, there is no shortage of stupid in the world. An interesting article from the Williston, ND paper showed up on my Amtrak news alert, saying that a semi trailer struck the Amtrak Empire Builder. Damage was severe enough to the locomotives that the train was forced to stop in Williston for repairs.
That’s remarkable because usually these incidents are reported as “Amtrak struck…”, or “Amtrak killed…”. But this report identifies the truck (more properly, it’s driver) as the subject, not the object.