RIP Eric Boehlert

[TheSportsPredictor]

Biking accident:

https://deadline.com/2022/04/eric-b...matters-salon-bike-accident-at-57-1234995804/

 

[garrow]

What horrible news! Just this morning I was wondering why he hadn't tweeted in a while. RIP. Wow.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

RIP.

But as a cyclist I have no idea how he could have been accidentally hit by a train.

 

[Cosmo]

RIP.

But as a cyclist I have no idea how he could have been accidentally hit by a train.

I was thinking the same thing, unless he a) misjudged the train's speed and jumped the gates and tried to push through and got hit or b) crashed before the train tracks and slid into the path of the oncoming train

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

At first I thought an MLB umpire died.

 

[goalmouth]

Grade crossings are a major issue today. If you've got Airpods in, you don't hear the train, or the crossing bells. Some places at grade crossings have installed ultra loudspeakers aimed directly at bikers and pedestrians.

 

[lakefront]

Grade crossings are a major issue today. If you've got Airpods in, you don't hear the train, or the crossing bells. Some places at grade crossings have installed ultra loudspeakers aimed directly at bikers and pedestrians.

I would not want to live near that. Maybe they could hire people to stand by at every train crossing to hold their hands as they go through.

Loved that guy, a real loss for everyone.

 

[Cosmo]

Grade crossings are a major issue today. If you've got Airpods in, you don't hear the train, or the crossing bells. Some places at grade crossings have installed ultra loudspeakers aimed directly at bikers and pedestrians.

I switched to a bike helmet that has built-in bluetooth speakers. Can still listen to music, but there's nothing in my ears, so I can still hear traffic coming up behind me. Win-win.

 

[goalmouth]

I would not want to live near that. Maybe they could hire people to stand by at every train crossing to hold their hands as they go through.

Loved that guy, a real loss for everyone.

In the good old days there were watchmen at crossings, usually old or maimed railroaders. When Denver's RTD had tech issues a few years ago, it hired flaggers to temporarily protect the crossings.

 

[goalmouth]

I switched to a bike helmet that has built-in bluetooth speakers. Can still listen to music, but there's nothing in my ears, so I can still hear traffic coming up behind me. Win-win.

You'd be shocked how quickly a train can be on you, with little or no warning, particularly electrics. In some places, like Chicago, a train standing at a station can block your view of a train rushing through on a parallel track. Unless there is an "EXEMPT" sign indicating an active but lesser used track, I'd stop before crossing.

I'll add that the increasing number of idiots driving around crossing gates or trying to beat the train across also makes for an added hazard for cyclists.

The rule among railroaders is, Expect a train on any track, from any direction, at any time.

P.S. I was a big time cyclist but I haven't ridden in years. A friend went over the handlebars, broke his neck and died, and a cousin crashed last year and broke her pelvis, elbow and ribs. I only get soft tissue injuries playing golf...

 

[poindexter]

How the F do you get hit by a train? Idiotic

 

[Cosmo]

You'd be shocked how quickly a train can be on you, with little or no warning, particularly electrics. In some places, like Chicago, a train standing at a station can block your view of a train rushing through on a parallel track. Unless there is an "EXEMPT" sign indicating an active but lesser used track, I'd stop before crossing.

I'll add that the increasing number of idiots driving around crossing gates or trying to beat the train across also makes for an added hazard for cyclists.

The rule among railroaders is, Expect a train on any track, from any direction, at any time.

P.S. I was a big time cyclist but I haven't ridden in years. A friend went over the handlebars, broke his neck and died, and a cousin crashed last year and broke her pelvis, elbow and ribs. I only get soft tissue injuries playing golf...

Yeah, I don't mess around with it. I only regularly cross one set of tracks on my usual rides, and that track generally hosts slow-moving coal trains and has a bunch of gates, so it's pretty safe.

 

[Slacker]

Grade crossings Earbuds are a major issue today. If you've got Airpods in, you don't hear the train, or the crossing bells. Some places at grade crossings have installed ultra loudspeakers aimed directly at bikers and pedestrians.

 

[wicked]

We have no-horn towns around here, and it's a miracle more people aren't killed by 60-mph commuter trains. My first thought was AirPods. When they're in I can't hear someone talking to me loudly from two feet away, and the volume might be medium at highest on the AirPods.

 

[goalmouth]

A few years ago I saw a beta test of grade crossing tech that activates an alert in your car if you're near a crossing and a train's approaching.

 

[lakefront]

A few years ago I saw a beta test of grade crossing tech that activates an alert in your car if you're near a crossing and a train's approaching.

One of my gps things sounds an alarm when near a track.
Years ago there was a clip of a woman in a hurry, there must have also been a parked train, she wasn't aware of the oncoming one behind the parked one. I ca still see her in her suit, iirc, walk/running...glad I never watched the end.