Man follows GPS directions onto train tracks, into dummy hall of fame

Once again proving that "people be stupid," a Bedford Hills, New York man allowed his GPS to navigate him onto train tracks... while a train was approaching. Entering a long line of folks like Cherry Tree Guy and the Narrow Lane Invader, this mentat in question apparently followed directions to "turn right" onto a set of tracks, which he then inexplicably became stuck on. Upon noticing the speeding locomotive heading towards his car, the man jumped out of the vehicle and tried to warn the engineer by waving his arms frantically -- to no avail. The train slammed into the truck at 60 MPH and pushed the vehicle more than 100-feet, damaging 250-feet of track. The man was unharmed, though we understand his ego has filed for divorce.

[Thanks, Dr. Mark]

[Jeff @ Jan 4th 2008 3:00PM]

According to my local morning news (and admittedly, I do watch my local Fox affiliate in the morning - mostly because they have four or five hot chicks that read the news at that time), the guy not only crashed his car through his own stupidity, he is now actively blaming the GPS unit. It almost sounds as if he is getting ready for a lawsuit.

[Mickey Jones @ Jan 4th 2008 9:28PM]

It's actually the train conductor's fault. He could have swerved to avoid it.

[MIke @ Jan 4th 2008 3:02PM]

Evolution didn't do its work. Damn you Evolution!

[haracas @ Jan 5th 2008 2:07AM]

Well evolution did part of its work. At least the guy had sense to run out of his vehicle, unfortunately evolution didn't complete its work and kill him =/

[Brent Hollingsworth @ Jan 4th 2008 3:03PM]

Michael Scott?

[Jared @ Jan 4th 2008 3:16PM]

I bet the person even had someone(Dwight) with him that told him to turn in 15ft instead of on the train tracks saying this can't be right.

[Kurian @ Jan 4th 2008 3:08PM]

And this happened for the how-many-th time?

[TIMMAH! @ Jan 4th 2008 3:09PM]

What's a 'mentat'?

[Joshua Topolsky @ Jan 4th 2008 3:14PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentat

[Dunes Weird @ Jan 4th 2008 3:16PM]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mentat

[eugene @ Jan 4th 2008 3:21PM]

this is what's wrong with kids today. They can use a south park reference, but have no clue when it comes to one of the greatest works of science fiction.

[me @ Jan 4th 2008 3:27PM]

somewhere a robot is laughing

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 3:11PM]

He's going to be really pissed when he gets billed for damage to the locomotive and the 250ft of track his stupidity caused.

[mergedwarrior @ Jan 4th 2008 3:13PM]

Darwin Award.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 3:15PM]

While it would work for "Displaying an astounding lack of judgement", this person has failed to remove himself from the gene pool, so nope.

[Ellianth @ Jan 4th 2008 3:31PM]

Although he might get an honorary mention.

[spock3 @ Jan 4th 2008 4:12PM]

I believe that the Darwin Award is a posthumous honor.

[Anders @ Jan 4th 2008 7:20PM]

Not quite - it's moreso about removing yourself from the gene pool through incredibly stupid actions...
So if you SOMEHOW lived through one of those events but lost your ability to procreate, then you'd still be eligible.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 3:14PM]

Dangit, I was hoping this would happen in the UK again. I had this great line ready:
"You know that WWII photograph of the British man climbing over the rubble of bombed houses to deliver milk? It wasn't his stiff upper lip, he was just following his sat-nav."

Yes, I had that ready in my head. I'm not going to feel to bad about it, because I sat and reclined in my office chair and got paid while I thought it up.

[Nietzsche\\\'s Tears @ Jan 4th 2008 3:20PM]

The incident lead auto safety lobbyists to question the soundness of in-vehicle GPS, but that train of thought was quickly derailed.

[jimmykam @ Jan 4th 2008 3:27PM]

nice pic - couldn't you have googled something from this century?

[unrealy2k @ Jan 4th 2008 3:31PM]

Darwin Awards. This guy lives like 15 mins from my house I it's time to move.

[Christian @ Jan 4th 2008 3:34PM]

Why can't people understand to only use the GPS as a guide and not as the only possible way.

Obviously the tracks are for trains, not car. Reminds me of that other news engadget shared with us from UK...

[Devin @ Jan 4th 2008 3:46PM]

He was CROSSING the tracks at a CROSSING. The GPS was navigating him fine but he failed to look for a train as he crossed.

I don't understand why all these blogs are reporting this without reading the story properly, MSNBC states in the story that this all happened at a crossing, it had nothing to do with a failed GPS route

[Nick @ Jan 4th 2008 3:42PM]

If you have time to jump out of your vehicle and wave your arms at the engineer - don't you have time to steer off of the railroad tracks? Oh wait, if you're dumb enough to drive on the tracks in the first place, then I suppose I shouldn't ask too much.

[blarvh @ Jan 4th 2008 3:45PM]

"Turn left at next intersection without iron beams running across it."

[Tom @ Jan 4th 2008 3:46PM]

Thanks for ruining my tracks, douche.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 3:57PM]

They're going to have to start putting really obvious warnings on the GPS systems...

"Check that the road exists before using it"
"Look left and right before crossing the street"
"Wash your hands after you tinkle"

...

[SpudSpudly @ Jan 4th 2008 4:07PM]

I live not far from where this happened. The guy wasn't from NY, he was from California and was just visiting NY. And he was actually trying to turn onto an unlit highway at night and instead turned onto some tracks that run parallel to the highway. His car got stuck and that was that. Either way he's an idiot because you should be able to tell that you're turning onto railroad tracks and not onto a highway.

[Joe Mama @ Jan 4th 2008 4:14PM]

http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NEWS02/801040377
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NEWS01/801030409

Rail crossing has a history of accidents
By NICOLE NEROULIAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: January 4, 2008)

BEDFORD HILLS - Start with an accident-prone grade crossing and wait until dark. Then mix in an out-of-state driver in a rental car who is depending on satellites for directions.

This disastrous recipe cooked up a fiery crash that stranded Metro-North commuters for hours Wednesday night but caused no injuries.

Bo Bai, a 32-year-old from Sunnyvale, Calif., was driving west on Green Lane around 7 p.m, and told Metropolitan Transportation Authority police that his car's global positioning system instructed him to turn right as he was crossing the train tracks parallel to the Saw Mill River Parkway. He got stuck, tried to reverse and finally abandoned the 2006 Ford Focus before it was slammed by a northbound Harlem Line train, MTA police said.

"He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train," said Dan Brucker, Metro-North spokesman.

Bai, who is employed by a Silicon Valley computer technology company and has been working in Fishkill, was relying heavily on his device's navigation commands, police said.

But even without adding the risk of misinterpreting or becoming distracted by a GPS device, five other accidents on the Green Lane tracks, including one that killed a woman driver in 1996, make this one of the most dangerous of some 150 grade crossings in the Metro-North system, B rucker said.

Statewide, three crossings in Rockland County are in the top 10 in terms of accidents. There was a fatal crash involving a freight train in June 2005 at the Erie Street crossing in Blauvelt and one in August 2003 at New Main Street in Haverstraw. Officials have been trying for years to eliminate another grade crossing in Haverstraw, on Short Clove Road, where a number of train-vehicle collisions have occurred. The $20 million project is expected to begin in the summer.

One of the worst crashes in Bedford Hills, in September 2004, injured 29 passengers and led to calls for eliminating that crossing. The accident involved a Colorado truck driver, illegally on the northbound parkway, who exited at Green Lane, got stuck at the crossing and abandoned the rig.

Railroad officials supported plans to create a grade separation there after the last crash, Brucker said, but the state Department of Transportation decided not to rebuild the crossing because of the costs and the need to take property, agency spokeswoman Carol Breen said.

"The traffic volume is very low in that area, so we deemed it wasn't feasible to put that kind of investment based on the crossing's safety record," she said. "We did add flashing safety lights."

Although no one was hurt in Wednesday's crash, about 500 passengers were stranded for more than two hours, and 250 feet of the electrified third rail was damaged. One passenger said the impact of the crash was barely noticeable, although the car soon burst into flames that were visible through the train's windows.

"I didn't really notice anything until the conductor very calmly said we struck the car," said Amy Lawlor, 30, of Patterson, an administrative assistant in Manhattan. "My first concern was whether anyone was in the car. My second was the safety of people in the train because the automobile caught fire.

"It almost got a little hairy," she said. "The engineer moved the train down the tracks to get away from the burning car."

Three trains out of Grand Central Terminal were canceled and 10 others delayed by up to 90 minutes. The damage was repaired by 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

Bai was ticketed after blocking the tracks and will be held liable for the damage and other costs of the crash, Brucker said.

"I guarantee it will be well over $100,000," Brucker said. "The track, the train, and we had to hire buses and drivers."

In addition to the crashes at the Green Lane crossing, the owner of a nearby auto-body shop recalled many other near-misses in the past three decades, when drivers turned onto the tracks, thinking they were entering the nearby Saw Mill River Parkway. One woman who got stuck with two children in the car was rescued by an auto-body worker who was able to drive the car free, he said yesterday.

"Over the last 10 years, the accidents that have happened and the ones that could have been make you think," said Greg Coccaro Sr., president of North State Custom.

Still, the intersection of the road and the train tracks and the nearby parkway are about as well-marked and clear as any intersection in northern Westchester, he said.

"You have to almost intentionally leave your car on the tracks in order for something to happen," he said. "I can understand if you are going across the tracks and the car stalls."

Brucker agreed. He said the railroad preferred overpasses, but he defended grade crossings as safe for alert, competent drivers.

"All of these accidents are so simply avoidable," he said. "Don't drive around the gates, obey the signals, do not be in the line of traffic where you are stopped on the tracks. Just look where you're driving. Use your eyes. Be aware."

Yesterday, Peter DiChiara, Mount Kisco's deputy mayor, renewed calls for a new crossing.

"This is one of many accidents at the Green Lane train crossing," he said. "The MTA and the DOT should take the time to examine the intersection and engineer a solution that would create a bridge over the train tracks and a north-south exit and entrance onto the Saw Mill parkway."

He said there is a telephone number posted at the crossing that motorists should call if they get stuck on the tracks.

Breen, from the DOT, said the agency would look at the crossing if requested by the municipality but didn't think Wednesday's accident would change its assessment, given that no one was hurt.

Staff writers Rob Ryser and Shawn Cohen contributed to this report.
Reach Nicole Neroulias at [e-mail] or 914-694-3527.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 5:10PM]

tldr

[Marc @ Jan 4th 2008 4:26PM]

Here's hoping that trains get never get GPS.... or our roads will never be safe again.

[allaina @ Jan 4th 2008 4:48PM]

that's assuming that train conductors are as dumb as the guys driving the cars in these stories.

[macona @ Jan 4th 2008 5:04PM]

Waving you arms to stop a train... At 60MPH... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Someone needs to teach this software engineer about the real world of physics.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 5:20PM]

Given the size, weight, and therefore momentum of a train, every MPH it is able to slow down before the collision would reduce (by quite a lot) the amount of force with which the train could possibly derail, even reduce the chance of a derailment at all.

Granted, the guy probably wasn't thinking along those lines and really thought the train could stop.

[Droo @ Jan 4th 2008 5:49PM]

It wasn't a truck, it was a rental Ford Focus. Someone should update the article to say 'car'.

[Perplexer @ Jan 4th 2008 6:45PM]

Someone should update the article to state the driver was a trucking moron.

[JozJonlin @ Jan 4th 2008 7:00PM]

Too bad he lived, he would have made a great Darwin Award recipient.

[ShadowGod @ Jan 4th 2008 7:15PM]

"He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train,"

LOL

[Mi key @ Jan 4th 2008 9:04PM]

With all the Great comments on here I hope all your GPS work as great as this guys.

[Hraefn @ Jan 5th 2008 4:52AM]

Our GPS works fine, and so did his. It was his brain that was off-track.

Now maybe he can buy another GPS unit to find his missing common sense...

[Wwhat @ Jan 5th 2008 12:20PM]

Might have been a cleaner finish if the GPS had said 'you are stuck on a track, stay in the car and wait for onrushing help'.

[shmrk04 @ Jan 10th 2008 3:00PM]

The AOL article is wrong in saying he is from the New York area when he is from California. Also the Railroad company(Metro-North in this case) has signs posted at each crossing with a number to call if a vehicle gets stuck at a crossing. He apparently did not notice the sign at all.

[kitty fowler @ Jan 11th 2008 6:58PM]

If it was dark, how was the train engineer supposed to see him waving his arms?