Attempt to beat train in Mich. ends 5 young lives

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

i better question is why would a 21 year old waste their time hanging out with a 14 year old?

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

Bullshit. Read the article instead of just watching the video.

sped around a lowered railroad crossing gate and past the flashing warning lights in an attempt to beat a train.

They knew a train was coming. The dumbass driving just didn't want to stop. There is a reason this guy has a suspended license, and they all probably knew he had a suspended license. It's sad 5 people had to die, but shit happens when you ride with a shitty driver.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

i better question is why would a 21 year old waste their time hanging out with a 14 year old?

pedo?

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

i better question is why would a 21 year old waste their time hanging out with a 14 year old?

It's an interesting mix of people, but if you read the article you would know the 14 year old and the 17 year old were dating. Not too unusual.

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Whats up with the 14 year old staying overnight at friends houses without telling her parents? Obviously some real bad parenting going on there and some out of control kids. Unfortunately it got them killed.

Your teenage years must have really sucked.

You don't need to do stupid shit to have a good time.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: Gothgar
why is this tragic again?

I know it's "cool" on AT to be an uncaring piece of shit, but FFS 5 people died and only one of them made the decision to try to beat a train.

WAAAAHHHH

 

[MercenaryYoureFired]

It's not about if they deserved to die or not, it's about having human sympathy, regardless of how they died. They were young and stupid, this doesn't mean they deserved what they got or that you can't sympathize with them, end of story.

It's also interesting to see that the people who are all "Darwin ftw" and "lulz they deserve it" are the same neurotic people who make "I'm ugly, fat, and a virgin GIVE ME ATTENTION" type of posts/threads.

Really sucks to see this shit happen.

 

[mattpegher]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Whats up with the 14 year old staying overnight at friends houses without telling her parents? Obviously some real bad parenting going on there and some out of control kids. Unfortunately it got them killed.

And what was this 14 year old doing in a car with a 19 year old. If this kid was far enough away to require a car ride home, that is some really bad parenting.

Bad parent, bad group of kids, driver with suspended license. I assume this isn't a church group. Some people simply invite trauma, and although I will not say anyone deserves to be hit by a train, the causal relationships certainly existed long before this event.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I dont understand how this happens. How can you not judge the distance between yourself and the train to determine if there is enough time to cross the tracks?

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
I dont understand how this happens. How can you not judge the distance between yourself and the train to determine if there is enough time to cross the tracks?

Because they couldn't see the train.

The driver might have been trying to show off or something stupid. As one story I read said "accidents among teen drivers increase based on the number of people in the car"

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: newnameman
Video here.

They most likely never saw the train and died without even knowing it was about to happen.

Exactly. It is plainly visible in the video that the train would have been almost entirely obstructed by trees unless you were very close to the tracks. The car barely slowed down. The four passengers would have had almost no opportunity to react or somehow use their Mighty Power Ranger like reflexes to stop the driver, as some fantasize would be their reaction. Its not the passenger's responsibility to be watching out for road hazards and monitoring the driver, anyway. I would question what the hell a 14 year-old girl was doing in a car with four men ranging from age 17 to 21 (she was dating one of them).

Bullshit. Read the article instead of just watching the video.

sped around a lowered railroad crossing gate and past the flashing warning lights in an attempt to beat a train.

They knew a train was coming. The dumbass driving just didn't want to stop. There is a reason this guy has a suspended license, and they all probably knew he had a suspended license. It's sad 5 people had to die, but shit happens when you ride with a shitty driver.

I think you missed my point.

We are not defending the driver at all, he was an idiot who killed 4 people and himself.

I was pointing out that it happened so quickly that they most likely never knew what was happening.

And tcsenter was countering the people who question why the 4 people in the car didn't try to stop this fool. The whole think happened so quickly that the people in car may have not even know what was going on, except the driver.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

"Not a reckless driver," Bulmer said. "He just didn't think all the time."

Well that's not exactly good either.

"The young man behind the wheel, Dan Broughton, had a number of traffic violations on his record, including speeding and running a stop sign. His license had been suspended a day before the wreck for driving without carrying a license back in April."

Sounds like a reckless one to me.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Bullshit. Read the article instead of just watching the video.

sped around a lowered railroad crossing gate and past the flashing warning lights in an attempt to beat a train.

They knew a train was coming. The dumbass driving just didn't want to stop. There is a reason this guy has a suspended license, and they all probably knew he had a suspended license. It's sad 5 people had to die, but shit happens when you ride with a shitty driver.

"They" weren't driving the car. "They" were passengers, who aren't responsible to constantly watch for road hazards or monitor the driver. "They" may have been doing exactly what a carload of young people do, chatting or texting or talking on the phone, not vigilantly watching to see if the driver knows what to do when he encounters an intersection, stop sign/light, or train crossing. By the time that any one or more of them realized the driver wasn't going to stop, it may have been too late to do a damned thing about it.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: EGGO

Originally posted by: Jeff7

"Not a reckless driver," Bulmer said. "He just didn't think all the time."

Well that's not exactly good either.

"The young man behind the wheel, Dan Broughton, had a number of traffic violations on his record, including speeding and running a stop sign. His license had been suspended a day before the wreck for driving without carrying a license back in April."

Sounds like a reckless one to me.

He's crashing cars in Heaven now.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
He was probably speeding and couldn't stop the car in time. He went into that intersection pretty fast.

He tried to drive around the gates. That's about 5 miles from my house.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Bullshit. Read the article instead of just watching the video.

sped around a lowered railroad crossing gate and past the flashing warning lights in an attempt to beat a train.

They knew a train was coming. The dumbass driving just didn't want to stop. There is a reason this guy has a suspended license, and they all probably knew he had a suspended license. It's sad 5 people had to die, but shit happens when you ride with a shitty driver.

"They" weren't driving the car. "They" were passengers, who aren't responsible to constantly watch for road hazards or monitor the driver. "They" may have been doing exactly what a carload of young people do, chatting or texting or talking on the phone, not vigilantly watching to see if the driver knows what to do when he encounters an intersection, stop sign/light, or train crossing. By the time that any one or more of them realized the driver wasn't going to stop, it may have been too late to do a damned thing about it.

"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

 

[UberNeuman]

My regrets for all the families...

/not so much so for the little asshole that put this chain of events into motion...

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: arkcom
"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

You're assuming any of them in fact knew the driver had his license suspended. The State does not notify the family and friends of the person whose license was suspended. His license had only been suspended the previous day. He may not even have known it was suspended. The State of Michigan once sent me notification it had suspended my license for failure to pay a ticket, which I received three days after the effective date of suspension. Meaning I was driving around for three days on a suspended license without knowing it.

Besides, I seriously doubt you ever asked if someone has a valid license before getting into their car when you were a teenager. I was a teenager once, at the same time that all of my friends and classmates were teenagers. I never heard anyone ask any driver if they had a valid license to operate a motor vehicle. Its just not something that is done at this age.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: arkcom

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Bullshit. Read the article instead of just watching the video.

sped around a lowered railroad crossing gate and past the flashing warning lights in an attempt to beat a train.

They knew a train was coming. The dumbass driving just didn't want to stop. There is a reason this guy has a suspended license, and they all probably knew he had a suspended license. It's sad 5 people had to die, but shit happens when you ride with a shitty driver.

"They" weren't driving the car. "They" were passengers, who aren't responsible to constantly watch for road hazards or monitor the driver. "They" may have been doing exactly what a carload of young people do, chatting or texting or talking on the phone, not vigilantly watching to see if the driver knows what to do when he encounters an intersection, stop sign/light, or train crossing. By the time that any one or more of them realized the driver wasn't going to stop, it may have been too late to do a damned thing about it.

"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

How do you know they were licensed? Even if they were, do you really expect two 19 year olds, an 18 year old and a 14 year old to make good decisions?

The local news interviewed the 14 year old girl's mom just hours after her daughter's death. She called her daughter not long before the accident, who had planned on going to the beach but her mom told her to come home. The girl said they were going to grab a bite to eat and she'd be home after that but was killed less than an hour later.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: arkcom
"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

You're assuming any of them in fact knew the driver had his license suspended. The State does not notify the family and friends of the person whose license was suspended. His license had only been suspended the previous day. He may not even have known it was suspended. The State of Michigan once sent me notification it had suspended my license for failure to pay a ticket, which I received three days after the effective date of suspension. Meaning I was driving around for three days on a suspended license without knowing it.

Besides, I seriously doubt you ever asked if someone has a valid license before getting into their car when you were a teenager. I was a teenager once, at the same time that all of my friends and classmates were teenagers. I never heard anyone ask any driver if they had a valid license to operate a motor vehicle. Its just not something that is done at this age.

It's not something done at ANY age. Seriously... has anyone in their entire life gotten into another person's car and asked if they had a valid drivers license?

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: arkcom
"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

You're assuming any of them in fact knew the driver had his license suspended. The State does not notify the family and friends of the person whose license was suspended. His license had only been suspended the previous day. He may not even have known it was suspended. The State of Michigan once sent me notification it had suspended my license for failure to pay a ticket, which I received three days after the effective date of suspension. Meaning I was driving around for three days on a suspended license without knowing it.

Besides, I seriously doubt you ever asked if someone has a valid license before getting into their car when you were a teenager. I was a teenager once, at the same time that all of my friends and classmates were teenagers. I never heard anyone ask any driver if they had a valid license to operate a motor vehicle. Its just not something that is done at this age.

Well, he had a history of bad driving. Unless they just met him, they knew.

 

[Sea Moose]

she made the choice to get into a car with a driver that had a suspended licence....

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: arkcom

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: arkcom
"They" chose to let the guy with a suspended license drive. Every one of them other than the 14 could have driven instead. She's the one to feel sorry for. The rest were old enough to know better.

You're assuming any of them in fact knew the driver had his license suspended. The State does not notify the family and friends of the person whose license was suspended. His license had only been suspended the previous day. He may not even have known it was suspended. The State of Michigan once sent me notification it had suspended my license for failure to pay a ticket, which I received three days after the effective date of suspension. Meaning I was driving around for three days on a suspended license without knowing it.

Besides, I seriously doubt you ever asked if someone has a valid license before getting into their car when you were a teenager. I was a teenager once, at the same time that all of my friends and classmates were teenagers. I never heard anyone ask any driver if they had a valid license to operate a motor vehicle. Its just not something that is done at this age.

Well, he had a history of bad driving. Unless they just met him, they knew.

history of bad driving? LOL he had gotten tickets for speeding, something everyone on here does. Only difference he had been caught doing it. As for running a stop sign, well that isn't good, but I have even done it a few times by accident. His license has been suspended for driving without having it on him. While not the most responsible thing one can do, I would hardly say that remotely qualifies a person as a bad driver. Let's be generous to help support your "history of bad driving" claim and assume he had gotten 4 tickets. It would be easy as hell for his friends to not know. Hell I don't know if any of the friends I drive with had a history of bad driving. Some speed, but that's common. I've never gotten in a car and asked "how many tickets do you have? how many points on your license do you have? Is your DL current and on you? For all I know they could all be reckless dudes who have DUI's and are worse drivers than the guy in this story. But to say they couldn't have not known is laughable, especially when you consider he probably had 2 or 3 tickets only.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: panipoori
others didnt deserve it but the driver did for sheer stupidity

I imagine that the others were likely telling him to do it, hence, he didn't check.