If a Class C motorhome weighing 12,000 pounds, traveling at 15 miles per hour, is struck by a loaded freight train (the locomotive of which alone weighs 400,000 pounds) traveling at 15 miles per hour, who wins? From the looks of the video, you guessed right. But in this case, nobody was hurt—at least not physically.
Loud and clear—RVer ignores train warning signals
The scenario played out last Thursday at a rail crossing in Rexburg, Idaho. The motorhome, with an attached “toad,” approached the crossing. The audio track from the video makes it abundantly clear that the train was giving full, loud warnings about its approach. For whatever reason, the RVer kept right on toward the crossing.
It may be fortuitous that the rig and the train met at just the right moment—if such a thing can be said about such a meet-up. Instead of mashing the front of the motorhome, and likely killing all aboard, it struck the motorhome at the rear, neatly separating the rig from its toad car.
In the end, the car ended up on one side of the eventually-stopped train, with the motorhome on the other.
While there were no physical injuries, the owners of the mechanics’ shop that videoed the incident said there may have been some casualties: feelings. They report that the motorhome driver was grumbling about the damage.
When the train crew got the locomotive stopped and came back, they definitely had hurt feelings about the matter—and delivered an earful to the RVer regarding his driving ability.
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RVT1222b
That guy’s troubles are just beginning. Wait until he gets the bill for the inspection and repairs to the locomotive, tracks and warning devices at the crossing.
He must have thought the train was going to stop for him.
I wonder what his insurance company is going to say.
It was a a totally avoidable situation.
I’m just going to say it. That had to be the stupidest maneuver I’ve seen in a long time!!!
They are born every day.
And multiply….
Thank you for sharing this story, Russ and Tina! I wonder how much attention the driver was paying to driving and how much to something(s) else? In any case, the one at fault “lost.” I don’t know that any lessons were learned, but at least punishment was delivered immediately following the misbehavior. Have a great week and safe travels!
I have seen many videos of similar events with trucks, cars, and even pedestrians. I suppose that they just didn’t want to wait for a train and paid the consequences.
I don’t see a video?
Hi, Ccg. It should be right above the sentence that starts “It may be fortuitous…”. If you don’t see it there, you might have something blocked on your device that won’t allow it to load. We’ve had several comments about it but I haven’t seen anyone else say that they couldn’t see the video. Sorry. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVravel.com
The engineer was clearly providing the necessary/required horn warning; which the Rver should have taken heed to. It is also notable, there were no bells, lights or gates at this xcrsg and it also appears to be obscured by trees and is a 90 deg turn onto the track. Doesn’t relieve the Rver of paying attention to the horn warning however.
Correct, although it’s the MH driver at fault, that is a dangerous crossing.
It appears to be more than a 90° turn, and the view up the tracks could have been obstructed by that and the foliage. Not having a gate and lights at that intersection is malfeasance. What if the driver were deaf or hard of hearing? There could be many explanations why he didn’t stop for the train but people just jump to conclusions with out all the facts. I’m not excusing the driver but I know from experience that as a solo driver I’ve had difficulty seeing to the right when approaching an intersection at an acute angle, even after adjusting the mirror.
The RV didn’t turn 90 degrees onto that street, he was already on that street so his view was much better.
You can’t FIX STUPID!
I’ll bet the RV driver dropped his phone too. Just like his insurance carrier will be dropping him.
That’s a very dangerous crossing. Obstructed sight lines together with no gate or flashing lights. Nevertheless the MH is at fault.
As my saying goes, you can’t fix stupid, but you can laugh at it. Glad no one was seriously injured though. Hope he’s got a big savings account for all the bills he’s about to receive.
Finally was able to watch the whole video of the crash. While the RR crossing appears to not have any lights, or crossing gates, the driver should have looked left and right. Especially since he should have been able to hear the train’s horn blaring.
If my wife had been in the passenger seat, I would have never heard the end of it!