Analog Autonomous Car Evades Deadly Collision with Train After the Driver Jumps Off

Still, some people manage to mess it up even in these very strict conditions, a feat so remarkable it would actually deserve some credit if it weren’t so plain stupid. After all, there’s only one thing asked of us when we approach a railroad crossing: to stop and make sure there’s no train coming. Then, depending on what our eyes see and our brain interprets, we can either wait for it to pass, or carry on if there’s no immediate danger.

To make matters even more straightforward, barriers are being use. If they’re down, that signals you should stop. Well, that and the fact that even if you wanted to go through, you simply couldn’t. If they’re up, that means you should proceed carefully. That still means looking both ways in case there are thousands of tons coming towards you at high speed.

In his defense, the driver you’re about to see was indeed approaching a railroad crossing that had no barriers. What it did have instead was excellent visibility, but that didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

The footage quality is too low for us to realize if he tries to brake and the snow/ice on the road prevents the car from stopping. Judging by the slow speed of his approach, we’d assume he does try to stop, sees that the car is refusing to decelerate, panics and jumps out of the moving vehicle just before it reaches the railroad.

In the end, it turned out to have been the wrong decision as the car sailed safely over the rails and continued its journey forward. Still, it’s hard to judge in what clearly must have seemed like a life or death situation at the time. Maybe some would have closed their eyes and floored it, making it through and having an entirely different story to tell at dinner parties. Our guy made the wrong call, but he did show quick thinking and a very strong survival instinct. It might have cost him his car and a large part of his dignity, but what he potentially could have lost having stayed in the car clearly outweighed all of this. And for all we know, maybe somebody jumped in the car and safely brought it to a halt; or maybe it stopped into a snow bank, causing minimum damage. But don’t mind us - we’ve read this thing about the benefits of positive thinking and we’re testing it.