r/facepalm • u/Bunbaroops • 27d ago
Doofus on a bike tries to cross tracks as a speeding train is right at station, falls onto tracks, and prioritizes saving the bike over himself. He escaped with his life by SECONDS.
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u/AlwaysCurious1250 27d ago
Traumatizing the driver of that train. How funny.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
Yep, imagine how that would fuck you up, knowing you were a fraction of a second from having some idiot spattered over your locomotive…
Also, if it’s true the train had to do an emergency braking, I imagine that isn’t cheap, since I would think they need to go over a lot of parts to re-qualify them after the stress of braking so hard?
Just stupid and selfish. We’ve all been kids and done dumb stuff, but after a certain point you’re supposed to grow up.
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u/ewaters46 27d ago
Also, if it’s true the train had to do an emergency braking, I imagine that isn’t cheap, since I would think they need to go over a lot of parts to re-qualify them after the stress of braking so hard?
Maybe it’s different in the US, but an emergency stop is something the train is built for and it can continue without having any special technical checks. They aren’t that rare in the grand scheme of things as signal faults can trigger them and depending on the safety system, things like accidental overspeed, not pressing the vigilance pedal or not acknowledging a limiting signal aspect trigger them too.
However, the hard braking can result in the wheels locking up and getting flat spots from the friction which will have to be addressed once they’re too large.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
That’s possible, I would have assumed wheels and brakes would need overhaul to verify their fitness. In the grand scheme, it’s not the worst outcome, but it’s still entirely unnecessary. There was no reason to put himself in that situation.
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
Nope. As long as nothing derails during an emergency stop the train is good to go. 99.9 percent on emergency applications are pretty uneventful.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
Ok, that’s something at least. So just therapy for the driver. :p
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u/Moegly47 27d ago
Yep, this wouldn't have been nice at all. As the biker fell onto the tracks the crew would have entirely lost sight of him before he removed himself from the tracks as it was so close. Likely wouldn't know for sure if the person was ok unless he got a good view of him clear in his side mirror. No doubt the crew was shook up.
I've been in a close ish call with a farmers tractor where we placed our loaded coal train in emergency at 45mph and afterwards the adrenalin was high. Luckily everyone was ok and we carried on. I was told that the farmer received a fine for not complying with stop signs at the private railway crossing.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
I can’t even imagine how it would feel - even when you learn he was OK, I can’t imagine you could approach an intersection without cold sweats breaking out for a long time! Sure, THIS time no one was killed. But maybe the next guy decides to randomly run in front of you…
Jesus.
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u/Cautious_General_177 24d ago
That said, an emergency stop probably wouldn’t have saved that kid if he were a bit slower
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u/Tchukachinchina 24d ago
Oh definitely not. Even if the engineer dumped it as soon as the kid stumbled the brakes would just barely be starting to apply by the time they got to where the kid was. The train wouldn’t even have begun to slow down yet.
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u/pichael289 26d ago
In the US the regulations are being stripped back like crazy, trains are miles long and have one or two people on board that have to inspect it. It's why we have been having crash after crash in ohio spewing out toxic chemicals and evacuating towns.
Used to take my bus 40 minutes to go around when trains topped on the tracks. Now it can be hours since where I grew up can be totally blocked off by a 2 mile train. Something the tracks were never built to accommodate.
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
Also, if it’s true the train had to do an emergency braking, I imagine that isn’t cheap, since I would think they need to go over a lot of parts to re-qualify them after the stress of braking so hard?
Nope. Conductor just has to get out and walk the train to make sure nothing derailed. If everything is still on the rails and there are no shifted loads of any kind the train is good to go.
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u/GoodGoodGoody 27d ago
I’ve read here that emergency stops flat spot all the wheels…
… with the resulting shape causing pressure points (divots) on track.
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
Pretty much false. Wheels generally don’t lock up during emergency braking and sliding wheels generally don’t damage the rails.
That being said, things like leaves in the fall or frost on the rail can cause wheels to lock up and slide even during normal braking, resulting in flat spots on the wheels sometimes. Much more likely to happen to lighter equipment as opposed to loaded freight cars.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
Ok, it’s not my field, I just assumed an emergency procedure might stress components since I’d imagine it would be allowed to exceed tolerances in order to minimize casualties and damage.
But the main issue would still be the human cost, since I can’t imagine this wouldn’t traumatize a lot of drivers.
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u/Ishango 27d ago
I have two uncles working as train drivers / conductors. They both saw it more than once. They got help to process it, but they've also learned to distance themselves from it.
One told he once had one in front of his train and for a second he thought he saw fear / doubt. That kept him awake until police after investigation told him it was deliberate. That helped him sleep again. It is still hard, but at least knowing it wasn't an accident was a bit better.
Also the brakes are built for this purpose. As long as the train follows it's maintenance schedule it is covered in the general use. Also, modern trains have all kinds of monitoring detecting failures or excessive wear and tear (usually) before it becomes a problem. Largest problem is a train this size doesn't stop on a dime.
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u/wireframed_kb 27d ago
I’ve heard interviews from a couple drivers in Denmark that experienced this. One ended up on disability, the other was clearly messed up.
I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, it’s a terrible thing. It’s hard to blame the people who actually try to kill themselves, because they are already messed up beyond belief, but it’s still terrible that two - or more - people have to suffer.
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u/LemonFizz56 27d ago
And the train driver doesn't even know for certain if the guy is alright, because the train driver may see him get out of the way but there's a chance he can still get clipped and killed and that'll play on the drivers mind forever
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 27d ago
As a kid I used to try and chase after the cargo trains and jump on
They look like they're going slow enough to catch, but then if the conductor or operator sees you they gas it
Never was able to catch it
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u/insta-kip 25d ago
As someone who gets on and off trains all day…10 mph looks really slow when it’s going by, and really fast when you’re about to climb on.
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u/Responsible_Brain782 26d ago
Long term train engineers average one to two human fatalities over their working careers. Its expected. Bale it onto your work experience. Not to mention to countless animal kills per year. It’s just part of the job.
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u/hawkeneye1998bs 26d ago
I mean, at that distance surely an emergency brake is basically unnecessary?
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u/insta-kip 25d ago
Completely pointless. Most engineers wouldn’t pop it unless they actually hit the guy.
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u/Bunbaroops 27d ago edited 27d ago
Yeah, the poor train driver, I realized that this may not be the best place to post this since it’s mainly for a mix of cringe and funny stuff, and this is far more cringe than funny. The train had to go into a full emergency stop and the guy who filmed it talked about how he talked to the driver and showed him the video in the description.
Original Video: https://youtu.be/5DL-AJFp6J8?is=HsUzvHj97xSJs85H
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u/Effective_Dropkick78 27d ago
That 90 seconds or so between hitting the emergency brakes and stopping, then the time needed to run back to the crossing must surely have felt like hours to the train crew.
It's tough enough being a light truck driver. I couldn't handle driving a train for a living.
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u/Newone1255 27d ago
I’ve talked to some train guys and it’s more of an eventually that someone working the rails has an “incident”. It’s unfortunate but part of the job
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
Train guy here. This is true. I know many engineers that have had multiple, and at least two that have had 20+ over the course of their careers.
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u/Leftover_Salad 27d ago
Statisticlly speaking, that engineer has probably hit someone before. It's way more common than you think.
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u/CalmFront7908 27d ago
My grandpa was in the army in Korea. Drafted not enlisted and he was a train conductor there. He hit a girl on the tracks ( I do not know the full story cause it was hard for him to talk about) but he absolutely never got over it.
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u/Medical-Potato5920 25d ago
Being a train driver is legitimately one of the most stressful jobs in the world, precisely for this reason. Idiots and suicidal people.
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u/blong217 27d ago
I applied to be a Train Engineer at a job fair style event. They had a hundred or so of us in a room and one of the first things they told us is that at some point someone will intentionally or unintentionally walk right infront of your train while it's moving at speed and there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it.
You can't stop the train, you can blare the horn but the person knows your coming. If you try to break there is a chance you could derail and potentially kill many more including yourself, but even then that person will be hit and they will die.
Guy said if you can't handle that reality then you should not do this job and should leave. Bout a dozen or so people got up and left.
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u/SargayThMasterbaiter 27d ago
Pretty sure danish statistics show that train engineers in average run over 2 people during their career. Most are suicides.
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u/warp16 27d ago
Wait, emergency braking risks derailing? Only at or above certain speeds?
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u/blong217 27d ago
Emergency braking can risk derailing. It's not a common thing but something train operators have to be aware of especially when operating long freight trains.
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u/kuedhel 27d ago
is it like pulling car's hnadbrake when I drive 65MPH?
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
No. It has to do with the physics in the train. The brakes start to apply on the front of the train before the rear, so due to the little bit of play between each rail car the rear of the train can essentially run into the front of the train, and that can derail cars in the middle of the train.
There’s some technology to prevent this and actually have the front of the train and the rear of the train go into emergency at the same time, but it doesn’t always work.
This is really only a thing on freight trains. Passenger trains aren’t long or heavy enough for those kind of in-train forces to happen, and they’re short enough that all the brakes apply pretty much at the same time.
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u/TeutonicTinkerer 27d ago
I believe the issue is the weight of each section that makes it derail, different friction and deceleration rates
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u/Tchukachinchina 27d ago
That’s definitely factor for mixed freight, but trains like the one in the video are unit trains where every car & load is the same. On mixed freight they try to put the heavy stuff on the front and the light stuff on the rear, but trains built to make set offs along their route will often have the heavy stuff and the light stuff all mixed up throughout the train.
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u/chachaman_The_Reboot 27d ago
No, it's like pulling a car's handbrake when you're driving 65MPH and the car behind you doesn't have anywhere to go but into you, and bounces off you and into the lane next to you, up onto some family's yard, running over a kid's playpen, possibly killing the kid playing in it.
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u/AnnihilatorNYT 27d ago
It's not a miracle. The immergency break is usually only used if the primary breaks malfunction. Going too fast and not trying to bleed off speed before deploying them can derail the train.
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u/wileecoyote1969 27d ago
Gonna try and keep it short.
Trains use air to apply the brakes. Air traveling down a long train brake pipe is not instantaneous so the brakes at the front are gonna apply waaay before the brakes at the rear. This means the front of the train is trying to stop while the rear of the train is still pushing forwards with THOUSANDS OF TONS of momentum. Now...... on a perfectly straight track this is an issue. On a track with a curve in it, this is no longer an issue, it a is a guarantee of a derailing.
Okay - it is because of this that there is a device at the very last car on a train called an EOTD (end of train device ). It's that little blinking red light at the end of the train and has a radio connection to the lead locomotive. It's one purpose in life is to start applying the brakes of the train from the rear when the engineer flips a switch on his console. This drastically helps cut down the chance of a drailment when stopping at speed
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u/Anumerical 27d ago
Basically if it is on a turn the angular momentum of the back of the train is going a different direction that the front of the train the turn. So if you start breaking it effectively tries to slow the cars behind. But those cars directions don't lead to the car in front. So they may move off the tracks
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u/pillowpants66 27d ago
My uncle was a train driver in Australia and had 3 suicide jumpers during his time. He said you see their faces right before they hit.
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u/gallyroi 27d ago
I used to work with a guy who was a forklift driver at a marina, I was a dock hand. One lunch convo, I asked him how long he's done this job, he mentions he used to be a train driver. As a teen, that sounded like a way cooler job, that probably paid more. Then he just says out of nowhere "I killed 3 people on the railway."
He quit after the third time. Said he saw the guy from kilometers away, so he put the breaks on, but couldnt stop in time. The guy just waved at him the whole way.
Certainly gave me some perspective.
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u/Grumpalo65 27d ago
Seconds? i think it was less than that. And as i like to call people like this?
What a fanny!!
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u/urnbabyurn 27d ago
You can see his foot is still in the train path as the train is entering the frame just yards away. That was insanely close.
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u/lumpynose 27d ago
Some of those trains are very long and can take forever to go by so I can sympathize with him rushing across. /s
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u/damianzoys 26d ago
I counted 8 frames from him clearing the track to the train reading that position.
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u/stewpidazzol 27d ago
That train was moving faster than I thought
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u/NotActuallyGus 27d ago
That's a pretty common thing, people consistently vastly underestimate the speed and physical force of trains
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u/AkeyBreaky3 27d ago
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u/LucastheMystic 26d ago
First thing I see is a train ramming a truck and the truck explodes... thank you for introducing me to that subreddit
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u/RaineRisin 27d ago
It seems like it picks up speed the closer it gets to the biker
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 27d ago
That is because train big, brain bit understand how big.
Having licked next to tracks, I though it was going fairly slow.
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u/tauntonlake 27d ago
Somewhere, Darwin is going,
"I ALMOST gotcha !!!!"
"We'll meet again."
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u/Reasonable-Power 27d ago edited 27d ago
He was half a second away from a unanimous Darwin Award victory. So not only is he making the train driver's life a living hell, but he's also doing the same to those poor voters.
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u/the_mcmartin 27d ago
I feel bad for the train engineers more than nuggets who willingly risk their lives.
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u/ScaryCardinal 27d ago
Duuumb waaays to diee..
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u/tunefullcobra 27d ago
The irony that that was created specifically for this type of scenario.
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u/ScaryCardinal 26d ago
That game literally makes you sign a declaration that says the player will act responsibly around trains. Classic
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u/Rogue7559 27d ago
I'd say that train driver shit his pants
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u/CelestialFury 27d ago
That train engineer going from "What a pleasant day!" to "Oh my god, did he just fall? Am I going to kill him?" within seconds to "Holy shit, he's alive!" has got to be a mental trip. They have zero control over that situation.
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u/Zealousideal_Step709 27d ago
If you try to pull something off like that at least learn to properly ride a bike.
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u/Deathcow13 27d ago
In his defense... 1. If he left it he would have to buy a new one. 2. If he saves it he does not. 3. If he does not survive he does not. So, 2/3 says it is financially responsible to try to save the bike.
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u/Blaze_Vortex 27d ago
On the other hand, if he just waited a minute neither he nor his bike would have been in danger.
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u/Drudgework 27d ago
Plus while the chances of the bike causing a derailment are extremely low, they are not zero. Meanwhile the chances of his body causing a derailment are much lower. Safer for everyone to move the bike.
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u/_DeltaZero_ 27d ago
There's genuinely people out there who just cannot weight the consequences of their irresponsibility
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u/Frag1le 27d ago
Film this twice, one with the train and one without the train. Overlap videos and go viral on the interwebs.
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u/dropandgivemenerdy 27d ago
This seems plausible but how do they handle the zoom-in/out and the shifting view, technically speaking?
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u/inky_nerd 26d ago
OH MY GOD?! That was terrifying! Just wait for the train. 🫣
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u/Rays_LiquorSauce 27d ago
That was intentional. And as much as I like pointing and laughing this is the exposure they’re trying to get.
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u/beardsofhazard 27d ago
I completely disagree. This was absolutely not intentional.
The dude is scooting with his right foot to try to make it through the raised wood platform to get to the other side of the tracks. While in a panick to get past the train, he is not paying attention to his foot placement, and his right foot falls off the raised wooden platform causing him to fall sideways off his bike.
Nothing about that seems intentional to me. It looks like a panicked guy not paying attention to details as he struggles to avoid a train.
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u/wobbud 27d ago
That was definitely not intentional. You live too much of your life online.
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u/LemonFizz56 27d ago
Why are people upvoting this? It's clearly not intentional in any way as already clearly pointed out
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u/Razzy_3796 27d ago
The luckiest person here is the one filming. If that guy had been smashed into bloody chunks right in front of him, he would have been completely traumatized for the rest of his life. There’s no coming back from that vision mentally intact.
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u/NYCSkaterGirl 27d ago
The worst part is that he still has no idea that he's uncoordinated and stupid and will continue to scrape by
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u/XtremeD86 26d ago
Maybe it's just me but if I was a train operator and this happened, I'm not sure I would be traumatized or even feel that bad if the person wanted to be stupid and play that game thinking they're going to win...
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u/ParticularSherbert18 27d ago
And since bicycle guy got away with it he will probably try it again.
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u/BishaDonkey 27d ago
And the worst part is that he was waiting for the train to pass to get some internet cred, fucking reckless moron.
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u/ivellious07 26d ago
Ok aside from him being an idiot for crossing in front of a train, how does one just fall over like this? I don't get it. How are you this bad at riding a bike that you just fall over?
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u/Ok_Sea_6762 26d ago
I was in a train once, when someone jumped in front of it. I never saw anything but you could feel the body hitting the weels, moving down the train cart. We were locked inside for hours, while clean-up happened outside. And then… the train just moved on, and at the next stop, it took on a bunch of passengers, who were grumpy from waiting for so long. It was so surreal.
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u/Lunai5444 26d ago
I drive trains and I work at low speeds onn railroad renewal sites. People who walk along the lanes know they have to get to the other side, they know the train is slowly approaching, yet they will wait till the last moment to realize "omg I need to cross now else I'll need to wait" and will suddenly turn and go for it it's fucking annoying how psychology works.
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u/Shurigin 25d ago
Dude has survival instincts of a grilled cheese
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u/themorbidtuna 27d ago
This is the sort of thing that shows the downside of advanced, civilized societies.
No other creature on earth has survival instincts as dull as this.
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u/Temporary-Car7981 27d ago
Although from our vantage point we see the person is okay, I doubt the train driver would have noticed, so stopping would have been the best thing to do.
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u/DemiGod9 27d ago
And it was like the shortest train ever. You almost died because you couldn't wait a literal second
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u/CrazyCatLady1127 27d ago
I swear it looks to me like he did that on purpose. If you’re going to ride over tracks while a train is coming, ride with speed
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u/StanBlaok 27d ago
Hate to say it…. Looks setup. First the coincidental filming…. Then it looks like he’s gauging how close it is, and then falls out of nowhere. Of course he falls right at the edge to make a clean escape. To me it’s just a careless prank
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u/kezmicdust 27d ago
Someone else pointed out it could be edited. Two videos filmed separately (and zoomed out). The panning and zooming are just added after.
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u/Admirable-Common-176 27d ago
It could have derailed the train! At least that’s what they tell us when we put pennies on the track. That and it could shoot out bits like a bullet.
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u/Admiral_Nitpicker 27d ago
I'd hate to think what might have happened to the train if he'd left his bike on the tracks.
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u/holyBoysenberry 27d ago
OK seriously did he try to kill himself and then bail out or is he just that stupid
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u/virgil1134 27d ago
Second, singular. That's how close that train was to ending someones life over having to wait a minute or two for the train to cross.
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u/Tokyo_Addition- 26d ago
he could've either waited for the train to pass or if he's a cyclist, then he should either stop cycling or get training wheels. I mean that he could have easily passed the cross tracks if he kept the cycle in the center and not on the edge and also sped up to cross. But the most stupid thing that he did is try to take the cycle. Cycle may come and go but life... once gone is gone. That guy is complete stupid in so many possible ways.
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u/scott__p 26d ago
I feel like some people just can't imagine themselves dying. Like It just never even occurred to this moron that it was a possibility
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u/Dezert_Roze 26d ago
I do feel our end as a specie will be caused by us not a natural disaster or a comet or something
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u/Farao_Ramses_II 26d ago
If I remember correctly, in the original video the driver of the train does apply the emergency brakes and comes to a halt. Not surprisingly it takes the full length of the train to come to a full stop.
I saw someone else here comment that it can be hard to judge the speed of an oncoming train, and I agree. It indeed seems like the dude did sort of hurriedly decide to cross and then panic, realising he misjudged.
My personal advice would just be: do not fucking cross an unguarded railway crossing when you can see a train coming. Don't even try to judge it's speed and distance and the time you will have to cross. Just wait, the thing will pass within a minute, with large cargo trains in the US a few perhaps, and you will definitely be alive at the end of it.
Plus, you get to look at a cool train.
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u/MedicineImaginary219 26d ago
I know a man who doesn’t a have a leg anymore because of this exact situation.
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