OT- How does one not feel stupid??

This evening I was heading over to a friend's shop to help build a bunch of miniature tubing benders that our model engineering club is producing to raise money for our club. I was several hundred yards from a cross road where I planned to turn right. Where the cross road crossed to my left was a rail road crossing with the gates down, lights flashing and bell ringing.

There were three cars backed up at the crossing. The last one was sticking out into the oncoming lane of the main highway. He pulled out and I thought he was going to just move ahead a bit but instead he passed the two cars ahead of him and proceeded to run (weave) the gates.

Just as he was about half through the Shasta Daylight appeared coming about 80 + MPH. The car barely made it through the gates but I'll bet he left a layer of his rear bumper on the engine. My reaction was to slam on my brakes. Don't know why but I did. Killed my engine. The guy behind me nearly rear ended me.

After I made my turn I pulled over to see if the car did make it. The Guy who nearly rear ended me pulled in behind me got out and was yelling and cussing me out. I opened the door of my little Chevy Tracker and unfolded my 6'4", 245 pounds out of the seat. He backed off very quickly and ran back to his car. I went over to his window and apologized and told him my reaction was a stupid one. He admitted he too was busy watching the guy run the gate and didn't see me until the last minute. In the end we both admitted we both acted stupid.

I have been driving for over 60 years and have never pulled such a stunt. How does one not feel stupid?

Hey 5Th,

Don't feel stupid, I've too been in a similar situation with an idiot and a train and did the same as you. The whole thing happens in a relative bink of an eye. The only thing I can think is that your brain remembered past sights of train-car crashes and decided that you were perfectly fine where you were at for the moment. It just didn't have time to let the rest yourself know.

Pretty much of the "Jerk your hand back from the weird flash of finger explosion going on under spindle of your machine." deal.

As far as the other fellow, well as much as we hate to admit it, there are generally good reasons for maintaining a safe and legal distance between moving vehicles.
Like the cop told me once. Mr. I don't care if the woman in front of you stopped to let a line of baby ducks walk past. If you had followed the law and mantained a proper distance between your car and the car in front of you. You would be home by now instead of talking to me.

Just glad you and the other bystanders didn't have to tell your story to the news team.

I've had three bumper vehicles more times than I care to admit from tailgating, and one bumper vehicles a few times from being tailgated.

What really annoys me -- especially in city traffic -- is that when I try to leave the appropriate number of car lengths between me and the next vehicle the space quickly fills up with cars. The only way I might could keep the proper space would be if I was backing down the lane at the posted speed limit.

Charles

I figure you did the right thing due to the very real possibility of being hit by shrapnel if the dumb-a$$ ahead of you didn't make it.

Someone once told me that the only person who can make you feel dumb is yourself. If anyone else makes you feel dumb, it's because you've given them permission.

The reason that you acted as you did was emotional upset. You perceived a train wreck.

The incident carries a direct parallel with any industrial situation. Sudden noises or outrageously unsafe behavior in any shop can cause an innocent operator to have an accident at his station because of the upset caused elsewhere.

If an accident does happen in a shop, there is a high likely hood of another happening within a short time after the original one.

The instructor in a voc-ed teaching class that I took advised that even if an accident in a school shop is slight, it is best to have all the students stop work and settle down for a while.

Sudden emotional upset is an irresistable force. It almost always causes someone to do something irrational.

Nobody's perfect, man. Everybody makes the occasional error in judgement. Given your actions, it was minor at best, IMO. People will sometimes react emotionally to such errors.

If you approached the crossing and saw the gates down, lights flashing, bells ringing and then ran it, I'd call that stupid, but you didn't. It worked out OK, so don't kick yourself too hard. Nobody got hurt and there was no damage. Consider it a close call that you can learn from. If you're the better driver for it, the incident wasn't wasted.

Remember, close only counts with horse-shoes and hand grenades.

My wife spends more time worrying about the guy BEHIND her than the guy in front, we have a light near our house that is flashing yellow one way, flashing red the other, now and then I will come up and stop on the yellow before turning, she insists I am going to be rear ended as a result of that, and that somehow stopping on the road with brake lights working is a dangerous thing. Not slamming on the brakes mind you.

Bill

Someone once told me that the only person who can make you feel dumb is yourself. If anyone else makes you feel dumb, it's because you've given them permission.
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Right Al, I know that.
With a good nights sleep and a hot cup of coffee I can see it better now. It was a normal reaction to feel stupid. One could feel stupid or get ticked off, it would be pretty normal. But I have found out over my life I usually get ticked off when I feel stupid

One of our club members is a Dr of Physiology. He said my reaction was actually fairly normal. He had a name for it but I don't remember what it is called. You are in a situation so intense that your brain takes over and reacts. He thinks I was trying to stop the train. He said feeling stupid is normal but if I had just shrugged it off then I had better start to worry.

What ever!

Bill

I don't really know what you're talking about as far as your description of the event but it doesn't matter - if you slam on your brakes and the guy behind you almost hit you, it's his fault. He must have been following too closely. I don't know if someone who is over 65 years old can still kick anyone's ass, even if you are oversized, but you coulda tried!

I don't know if someone who is over 65 years old can still kick anyone's ass, even if you are oversized, but you coulda tried!
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GregSY, I am 74 but look 20 years younger. With my size I don't usually have to kick butt or even need to try so I don't know if I could have kicked his butt or not. I used to be an appliance repairman and even today I can still take a side by side fridge. up a flight of stairs by myself. He apparently thought I could kick his butt as he really hightailed it back to his car. My experience is that when they run like that they are afraid and are looking to hide or find an equalizer like a gun or tire iron.

Dumb, wrong, but understandable. I been there and done it. Probably do it again.

Had a similar experiance one time. I was following a guy down a long main road when he decided to pull into a roadside shop on the left. Apparently he and his passenger didn't see the oncoming semi. They didn't even try to miss it - just dawdled over across the road. I was just about beside them, a little in front when the explosion went off. My natural reaction was to floor the gas and not get off it until well down the road. They were dead instantly. Funny thing was that a cop was following behind me, also saw the whole thing and was there to pick up the pieces. Its amazing what those fight or flight reactions will do, and that adrenalin stuff is some kind of powerful drug.

Well I had to be back over there again this morning. There was a black plastic bumper along side the tracks but I did not read any thing in the newspaper or hear anything on the TV. Almost the same thing happened again this morning only this time it was a kid on a bike. Fortunately the other train was a slower moving freight train and the kid got across in time. There are two tracks at that crossing. One goes into the yard and one is the main line.

PS; Some one sent me a PM about the tubing benders but did not leave a return address.

5th,
1. Train always wins, throws fully loaded
tri-axle gravel trucks 30' in the air.
2. one of the railroads showed us a film using
a camera mounted next to the engineer, this
happens every day, makes you squirm watching
it.("love tap" to a car)
3. even though you can slice a semi loaded with
large rolls of paper (3-ton rolls) in half,
(it has been done)
and not get hurt, the engineers still get messed
up physicologically wise, they have support groups for counselling. As they told us, "we really
don't want to hurt anyone".
4. I don't park very close to the gate when I am
the first car in line, so hitting the brakes
was the good reaction that stopped you from the
"heard" reaction (the guy ahead went thru, you
should too)
5. Look closely, the front plate is 1" thick,
the anti-climbers keep you from flying up and
striking the cab, good for engineer, bad for you,
as you tend to roll up into a "bale" as you
are dragged down the track.
digger

Dont know if my story has any relevance to this but-- I saw a train hit a pickup once at low speed(the truck had stalled, passengers got out no one was hurt) it destroyed the pickup in an instant, I have worked in a in a few machine shops on learning the sounds of the machines always takes a week or so to to get used to what is normal and what is not and have been edgy until I learn the sounds. The whole what is normal thing. I myself am in my early 30's am 6'4" and weigh 210. I know about he intimidation thing although I am probly one of the most easy going guys you will ever meet. I am glad no one was hurt and I hope the experience does not haunt you. I have been rear ended and still now when I go to stop in a hurry I wonder if the car behind me sees what is happening and if I will walk away unhurt.

My uncle played chicken with a train at a crossing back in the late 50s and won! When he crossed the tracks his car (VW conv) flipped and he was ejected and died from multiple head trauma! Talk about stupidity, he left a wife and 3 kids with no answers as to why he was so stupid!!
5thwheel; I think the reason you stepped on the brake was your subconscious reaction as to where the car was going to land after the train hit it and what kind of correction you might have to make in the direction your car was travelling!!

Steve

5th, don't worry about it. It is just a reaction, and sounds like pretty good reflexes for a 74 year old. I remember when I was learning to drive, my Mom was in the passenger seat and she stomped the *&(^ out of the floorboards sometimes trying to make the car stop quicker than I was going to. It is normal. I have been watching shows on Tv and will flinch and jump sometimes when something happens.
It is just the difference in people.

My Ex-father-in-law told a story of back in 1970 a dump truck was going down the highway toward an overpass. My Ex-father-in-law said it looked like the bed was going up on the truck and it was going to hit. He stopped about 1/2 block back and got out and waved at the traffic behind him to stop and WHAM!!!! the bed was torn off of the truck and it chipped a lot of concrete from the overpass.

When the police got there the driver was drunk as a skunk. The driver had also modified the dump switch and had it laying in the seat and was leaning on it.
The Officer told my XFIL that he may have saved a few lives by warning the other cars.

That is similar to your reaction.

The guy behind you was a Rubber-Necker. They stop/slow down and stare at things and hold up traffic and cause accidents themselves.

Good going 5th,

Jackal