http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/ Engadget Comments for Man follows GPS directions onto train tracks, into dummy hall of fame http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 5th 2008 2:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentat]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mentat
]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 4:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/So if you SOMEHOW lived through one of those events but lost your ability to procreate, then you'd still be eligible.]]>Jan 4th 2008 7:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/"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.]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
Obviously the tracks are for trains, not car. Reminds me of that other news engadget shared with us from UK...]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
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]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 3:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
"Check that the road exists before using it"
"Look left and right before crossing the street"
"Wash your hands after you tinkle"

...]]>Jan 4th 2008 3:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 4:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/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 nnerouli@lohud.com or 914-694-3527.
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Someone needs to teach this software engineer about the real world of physics.]]>Jan 4th 2008 5:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
Granted, the guy probably wasn't thinking along those lines and really thought the train could stop.]]>Jan 4th 2008 5:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 5:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 6:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 7:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
LOL]]>Jan 4th 2008 7:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 4th 2008 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/
Now maybe he can buy another GPS unit to find his missing common sense...]]>Jan 5th 2008 4:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/]]>Jan 5th 2008 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 10th 2008 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/Jan 11th 2008 6:58PM