Man Crashes Car into Old-Timey Steam Engine

I understand running a red light here and there if it’s JUST turned from yellow. I can understand not coming to a full and complete stop at a stop sign if there are genuinely no other cars around. 

But, what I don’t get are people who can see the train warning gates closing, the big “train is totally coming” lights blinking and the train going “TOOT! I’m a train I’m huge!” and then trying to blast across the tracks in order to avoid it.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY be that important? It’s the same feeling I get when I see people cutting other people off on the highway and then realizing they have kids in the car. Is that extra 10 seconds you’ll get worth your kids’ lives? I mean, sure, it really feels satisfying to show everyone that you’re super awesome at driving, but.. cmon.

The Pohatcong Township man whose vehicle collided with a steam engine tried to put his car in reverse when he saw the train coming. But he accidentally stepped on the gas, according to authorities.

The confusion caused Russ Trauger, of the 100 block of River Road, to collide with a commercial steam engine Sunday afternoon at Carpentersville and River roads — an intersection that does not have signal lights or gates to warn of oncoming trains, Pohatcong Township police said.

Trauger had seen the New York Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society operated train coming and attempted to reverse but mistakenly stepped on the gas, police said. Trauger’s Nissan Murano sustained damage on the driver’s side. SOURCE: The Express-Times