Sunday, Oct 12, 2014 at 18:54
Batt's - I can assure you, this bloke will most certainly be gettting a bill from Genesee & Wyoming, for all the loco and track damage and freight delay losses.
The mental toll on train drivers in general is huge - and I don't know how you compensate for that. Metro train drivers have people committing, or trying to commit, suicide in front of them half a dozen times a year on average. That doesn't even include the idiots who get stuck on crossings.
Not a lot of younger drivers understand that if you damage property belonging to others, you will get a bill for it. Most people never see that, because their insurance company picks up the tab.
A few years ago, the bill you got for knocking down a power pole in the
Perth metro area was $3500. I've no doubt that figure has increased, as would the replacement cost of a pole in the country.
Damage someones fence or buildings with your car, and you'll get the bill for it. There's nothing more certain, apart from death and taxes.
The sad part is that this bloke and his mate weren't drunk - they were just being adventurous and stupid in the best juvenile fashion. Don't forget, we all did equally stupid things when we were his age.
I know I've crossed rail lines at non-designated crossings and nearly got stuck when I was younger and more foolish. It's just a lack of driver education.
45lb rail lines are high enough - the current 53kg and 60 kg lines are a struggle for a lot of 4WD's to climb over, particularly with an
embankment and loose ballast each side of the line.
Young drivers need to be told and shown that a 4WD WILL get stuck easily on current, high profile rail lines, where there's no designated crossing.
It's a pretty expensive lesson for him, and one he'll be working to pay off for a while.
Not insuring his 4WD either, is evidence he wasn't exactly thinking ahead too
well.
The rail line education needs to extend to the point where drivers are made very aware of the massive destruction/death/injury potential of derailing a 5,000 or 10,000 tonne freight train.
If the loco had plunged off the
bridge, the toll could have involved deaths in the crew.
There's quite a few "experienced" truck drivers around, too, who didn't understand the dangers of not looking properly for trains, at designated crossings.
Lismore Rail Disaster
Cheers, Ron.
FollowupID:
826055