Lueyen wrote:Diekan wrote:Notice how he just keeps on going.
For the distance shown that isn't unreasonable. Assuming the driver saw the train way to late (if he/she saw it at all) the driver would try to accelerate to get out of the way. It looks for the most part like what was left of the trailer wasn't even touching the ground. This means not only a large amount of power trying to accelerate, but then a sudden loss of weight both in the trailer and whatever was inside. The other thing that you might not realize is that it also lost half it's breaks... which are air breaks fed from the truck. I'm not quite sure if the way the breaking systems are designed ties both trailer and truck breaks together, but it's possible that when the trailer brake lines were cut, the whole breaking system lost pressure. Not all trucks are equipped with "jake breaks" which is a break that clamps down on the drive line (thats the obnoxious sound you will sometimes here when a truck slows down). The truck certainly didn't have a large amount of it's already limited (compared to a passenger vehicle) capacity to stop, if any at all.
Edit: the distance from the tracks to the edge of the view seems pretty short to boot.
Actually, the jake break runs independent of all the other braking systems on the truck. It's an engine break, and it operates by opening the exhaust valve on the compression stroke, and on the power stroke, it has the valves close, which creates a vacuum and slows the rig. The other breaks on the truck are air brakes, and if the breaks go out on the trailer, you will still have brakes on the tractor.
I can't believe that guy ran through and tried to beat the train. I couldn't tell on the video if he ignored the crossbuck flashing and dinging, or if it was a malfunctioning crossbuck.