Collisions

toc HOW ABOUT WE ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THIS ONE :) = **Collisions** =

An Introduction:
As a driver, you are responsible for more than just yourself on the road. It is your job to be sure that your actions are wary of both the laws and other drivers, however it has often bee seen that not every driver is aware or acknowledging that obligation. Probably one of the most common examples of this neglect would be reckless speeding. To be continued after sleep and cobbler....

**Train**:
According to the US Department of Transportation there are about 5,800 vehicle train crashes each year in the United States-usually at Railroad crossings. These accidents kill 600 people and injure about 2,300. More than 50% of all railroad fatal accidents occur at crossings with passive, or inadequate safety devices (often none at all!). During daylight about 75% of car train collisions involve the train hitting the car, while at night about 50% of the time the car runs into the train.

**Kinematics:**
The Kinematic principals that will be needed for this type of scenario would be velocity, acceleration, and displacement not only for your own vehicle, but also for the vehicle that you are in danger of colliding with whether it's a car or a train.

**Example Scenario:**
The year is 1938. A man is trying to make a speedy get away from the police. The path he decides to take requires him to cross a train track. He drives with a constant velocity of 31m/s. The train tracks are 2.3 miles (3720 meters) away from him. At this moment, there also happens to be a train traveling with a velocity of 70 m/s and is 5.2 miles (8400 meters) away from the point on the tracks where the car will cross. The train is moving towards that point. Since the driver did not slow down due to the fact that it would mean the police would catch him and he did not accelerate because he lived in a time in which he was already traveling with the highest possible velocity, he hit the train.

Graph:
The following graph shows the position of both the train and the car at any given time withing two minutes before they crashed into one another. The graph was designed to have the crash point be at 0 meters (the orgin) and the car and the train started below the orgin moving towards it. Below the graph is a data table which makes the data easier to read. The points are within ten second intervals.
 * Time (s) || Position (m) Car || Position (m) Train ||
 * 0 || -3720 || -8400 ||
 * 10 || -3410 || -7700 ||
 * 20 || -3100 || -7000 ||
 * 30 || -2790 || -6300 ||
 * 40 || -2480 || -5600 ||
 * 50 || -2170 || -4900 ||
 * 60 || -1860 || -4200 ||
 * 70 || -1550 || -3500 ||
 * 80 || -1240 || -2800 ||
 * 90 || -930 || -2100 ||
 * 100 || -620 || -1400 ||
 * 110 || -310 || -700 ||
 * 120 || 0 || 0 ||

**How this Hazard Can Be Avoided:**
This incident could have very easily been avoided. If the driver slowed down even by just a little bit, he would have not hit the train. It was unfortunate that the train was moving at a velocity and was far enough away that it would meet the car, but the train could not have slowed down. The driver also probably did not know what the trains velocity was at the time, and if he did, he could have been able to tell how much he would have to slow down by in order to miss the train.

**Conclusion:**
I hope that this little scenario here has given you a better understanding of how to be safe whenever you are in the need to cross paths with a train. If not, please look at some of our other pages that could very easily help you get a better idea of how to use some Kinematic principals. Once you understand how to use them, come back to this page and read the scenario again so you can see if you understand it better.