Darwin Award Thread

[Figarou]

How could he not see the train coming? Guess it was too fast and he didn't notice. It did chop the delivery vehicle in half.

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[Chris M]

How could he not see the train coming? Guess it was too fast and he didn't notice. It did chop the delivery vehicle in half.

DANG!!!

 

[Cmar]

And if you're wondering where that package is.....

 

[MountainGoat]

How could he not see the train coming? Guess it was too fast and he didn't notice. It did chop the delivery vehicle in half.

Is that like a required uniform or did he willingly dress up like a teletubby?

 

[Motorpsychology]

I'm calling BS.

• The driver is bundled up for an arctic expedition, including thick choppers matching, no less- padding in case something went "wrong"
• Driver would have had the locomotive in view while driving parallel to the tracks he looks over at it twice, making sure his timing is good.
• After the crash you can see the passenger side airbag had deployed, but not the drivers side- would've ruined the shot. also note the green foam padding to absorb concussion effect.
• Throughout the event the cameras stayed in its place while everything else went flying. I want a mount like that!
• It would have taken a lot of skill to time it just right. The truck may have been structurally weakened to make sure it separated in the right place
• Driver didn't appear to be in shock afterwords, methodically picking up pieces.
• Cyrillic stamp in the upper left corner of the video.s There are several YouTube videos of Russian "accidents" I would bet the locomotive engineer was in on it. Second video may have been cropped to hide the train approaching.

 

[RedlandRanger]

I'm calling BS.

• The driver is bundled up for an arctic expedition, including thick choppers matching, no less- padding in case something went "wrong"
• Driver would have had the locomotive in view while driving parallel to the tracks he looks over at it twice, making sure his timing is good.
• After the crash you can see the passenger side airbag had deployed, but not the drivers side- would've ruined the shot. also note the green foam padding to absorb concussion effect.
• Throughout the event the cameras stayed in its place while everything else went flying. I want a mount like that!
• It would have taken a lot of skill to time it just right. The truck may have been structurally weakened to make sure it separated in the right place
• Driver didn't appear to be in shock afterwords, methodically picking up pieces.
• Cyrillic stamp in the upper left corner of the video.s There are several YouTube videos of Russian "accidents" I would bet the locomotive engineer was in on it. Second video may have been cropped to hide the train approaching.

You may be right, and if you are, that is incredibly sad that someone would stoop that low for "clicks". Kind of like the guy who intentionally crashed his plane for "clicks" - at least he was caught and had to account for his stunt.

 

[Figarou]

You may be right, and if you are, that is incredibly sad that someone would stoop that low for "clicks". Kind of like the guy who intentionally crashed his plane for "clicks" - at least he was caught and had to account for his stunt.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets...-amtrak-train-slices-truck-half?intcmp=tw_fbn

 

[LaBalbe]

I'm calling BS.

• The driver is bundled up for an arctic expedition, including thick choppers matching, no less- padding in case something went "wrong"
• Driver would have had the locomotive in view while driving parallel to the tracks he looks over at it twice, making sure his timing is good.
• After the crash you can see the passenger side airbag had deployed, but not the drivers side- would've ruined the shot. also note the green foam padding to absorb concussion effect.
• Throughout the event the cameras stayed in its place while everything else went flying. I want a mount like that!
• It would have taken a lot of skill to time it just right. The truck may have been structurally weakened to make sure it separated in the right place
• Driver didn't appear to be in shock afterwords, methodically picking up pieces.
• Cyrillic stamp in the upper left corner of the video.s There are several YouTube videos of Russian "accidents" I would bet the locomotive engineer was in on it. Second video may have been cropped to hide the train approaching.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets...-amtrak-train-slices-truck-half?intcmp=tw_fbn

I agree that it looks a little sketchy, but the driver's side airbag does go off, and I don't think that the stamp in the upper left is Cyrillic; it looks more Thai to me with a more "fluid" cursive-like script which is more typical of Arabic and Southeast Asian scripts than the blockier scripts that you find in most other languages.
Assuming that the Fox clip is accurate, it does raise the question of how he didn't see the train coming (maybe there was a bend in the track??) and more importantly, how does a guy who is admittedly deaf in one ear get a job as a driver???? Surely that's one job where he wouldn't get a "disability" pass, as it's a critical ability to have to properly perform his duties, as this video and his excuse clearly demonstrate. Dispatcher, ok, coz he really only needs one working ear, but driver...??? EOE needs to take a reality check.

 

[Motorpsychology]

I agree that it looks a little sketchy, but the driver's side airbag does go off, and I don't think that the stamp in the upper left is Cyrillic; it looks more Thai to me with a more "fluid" cursive-like script which is more typical of Arabic and Southeast Asian scripts than the blockier scripts that you find in most other languages.
Assuming that the Fox clip is accurate, it does raise the question of how he didn't see the train coming (maybe there was a bend in the track??) and more importantly, how does a guy who is admittedly deaf in one ear get a job as a driver???? Surely that's one job where he wouldn't get a "disability" pass, as it's a critical ability to have to properly perform his duties, as this video and his excuse clearly demonstrate. Dispatcher, ok, coz he really only needs one working ear, but driver...??? EOE needs to take a reality check.

As he follows the left curve to the grade crossing, deaf or not, a casual glance out his side window he would have seen the Amtrak train coming and at his speed could have stopped IMO. The Amtrak was no doubt blowing his 130dB air horns in a continuous blast as the engineer saw that the truck was nor going to stop. I live 3/4 mile from a rail grade with a row of townhouses in front of my property and I can hear trains approach with the windows shut.
Another oddity, right before the impact, you can see that the road across the track is clear. Then the impact and as the debris is still falling, now there is stopped oncoming traffic. If it wasn't staged, it was awfully peculiar. Terrorist attack? Suicide attempt?

Driver Evans may have an aversion to cold, but he is bundled up for a marathon ice fishing contest. I checked the monthly highs and lows for October, November and December 2021 for Ixonia, WI (42 mi west of Milwaukee), when and where the crash took place, and daytime temperatures were mostly seasonal, with a lot of 30s and 40s. The NTSB report would be an interesting read.

 

[LaBalbe]

As he follows the left curve to the grade crossing, deaf or not, a casual glance out his side window he would have seen the Amtrak train coming and at his speed could have stopped IMO. The Amtrak was no doubt blowing his 130dB air horns in a continuous blast as the engineer saw that the truck was nor going to stop. I live 3/4 mile from a rail grade with a row of townhouses in front of my property and I can hear trains approach with the windows shut.
Another oddity, right before the impact, you can see that the road across the track is clear. Then the impact and as the debris is still falling, now there is stopped oncoming traffic. If it wasn't staged, it was awfully peculiar. Terrorist attack? Suicide attempt?

Driver Evans may have an aversion to cold, but he is bundled up for a marathon ice fishing contest. I checked the monthly highs and lows for October, November and December 2021 for Ixonia, WI (42 mi west of Milwaukee), when and where the crash took place, and daytime temperatures were mostly seasonal, with a lot of 30s and 40s. The NTSB report would be an interesting read.

I can buy "staged" for all of the reasons you've laid out, but I don't see terrorism or suicide attempt.
If it was terrorism, they would have loaded the truck with something either volatile to create a big bang, or very heavy to increase the likelihood of derailing the train. As you pointed out earlier, the truck may have been structurally weakened, which would be counter-productive to the goal of a terrorist attack.
As for suicide attempt, he doesn't check his speed or show any signs of second-guessing his decision to commit suicide by train-wreck; somebody who decides to commit suicide by standing in front of a train is pretty determined to die at that point, just like anyone who jumps off a building, bridge, etc. There's a certain "point of no return" element to it, unlike a cutter who usually isn't really dedicated to dying, but is rather making a cry for help or trying to distract themselves from their depression and mental anguish through the application of physical pain. Granted, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I speak from the experience of a family member who helped someone wrestle with their depression and suicidality for close to a decade before we won that battle a couple of years ago; even so, I'm still on edge whenever this person speaks of anything closely resembling death. No, I suspect that if Evans was trying to kill himself, he would have been keeping a real close eye on that train to make sure that he welcomed his death, and when he realized that he was a bit ahead of his ideal point of impact, he would have just stood on the brakes and waited; there's no way the train could have avoided him if he did that.

 

[Cmar]

Sadly this one wasn't staged, and even more sadly from my own country, some true 4WD geniuses here. Good comments from the reviewer and public commenters however.

 

[Doc]

Sadly this one wasn't staged, and even more sadly from my own country, some true 4WD geniuses here. Good comments from the reviewer and public commenters however.

Rock Climbing …Tsk ..

 

[LaBalbe]

Sadly this one wasn't staged, and even more sadly from my own country, some true 4WD geniuses here. Good comments from the reviewer and public commenters however.

Wow! Even with my limited off-roading experience, I can identify a whole bunch of "Wow, that's stupid" moments without having to wait for Matt's observations; maybe that's just coz I've reached an age where I somehow survived my dumb "young bloke" years, and wonder how that happened.

 

[Motorpsychology]

WHY WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN

 

[Motorpsychology]

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