Driver survives. Says that he did not see the lights or hear the horns of the train or the railroad crossing lights. Right? That is usually the answer when the driver is asked. Saw where this 18 wheeler got smashed by a train on TV one time. Crossing lights booming, train whistle sounding, and truck driver said he did not see train or hear or see the warning lights at the crossing. Why do these people think they can beat these trains??? People dead because of driver stupidity.
By the looks of thing the train must not have been moving very fast and who is to say the light were working and/or the train blew the horn. Could have been a spur track or switching cars on an off track. Maybe he didn’t hear anything.
Even if the lights don’t work, the train whistle is pretty loud. School buses have to stop at every railroad crossing regardless of whether the gates are down or up. Perhaps that is a requirement that ALL busses should follow.
I’m not sure about this particular street but many crossings in Biloxi are without gates or even good lights. There has been an inordinate amount of road construction in Biloxi over the past year or more so I wouldn’t be so quick to ignore his pleas.
Reminds me of many years ago when a neighbor crossed a train track on the High Plains. You could see for miles both ways and he had crossed it hundreds of times before.
Just as he crossed, a train went past behind him. He later said he still does not know how he missed seeing or hearing the train as he stopped to look both ways.
I believe Jeff Cooper called it “Condition White”, being totally oblivious to your surroundings,
Stories and videos of people not seeing things that were ‘there’ are all over the place. To wit, the video where the man in a gorilla suit walked right across a basketball game while people were concentrating on how many times the ball got passed is one example.
And it happens while driving as well - not the ‘I didn’t see the gorilla’ part, of course, but being so focused on one task (like fiddling with the radio or heater - c’mon, you’ve all had THAT happen) that you can’t really remember the last minute or more of the road.
Chances are, the driver DID get distracted by something. Couple that with crossing a particular set of railroad tracks every day for years and never encountering a train, and you have the recipe for precisely what happened in Mississippi.
My daughters were on a Mega Bus once. The driver almost didn’t stop in time for a train. The crossbars actually hit the bus.
I made a formal written complaint. I also had a bus driver license at the time and quoted the laws.
Crickets
I was stopped at a crossing one day, when a teenage pedestrian with her earphones in, texting away, walked past me, bumped into the crossing rail, went under it, and crossed the tracks, literally 2 seconds before the train rushed through. TWO SECONDS!! After the train passed, there she was, a block away, still head down, texting. I don’t think she even realized she had a close call. When she walked into that crossing rail, she never looked to the right or the left, just glanced straight ahead before ducking under it. I was praying for her while calling her an idiot at the same time.
I read he got stuck on the tracks.
I thought buses were required to stop at RR crossings, look for. A train then proceed.