Culture|Garage

No word if he was using Microsoft Sync on his rental Ford Focus or not, but a California man visiting New York listened to his GPS navigation system a little too literally and mistook the railroad tracks for the street. Once again, in the battle of train versus car, the train won by a knockout punch.

Apparently the guy turned right when his GPS told him to turn right, and I guess he didn’t notice the “street” was a little bumpy, and also made of twin tracks of steel. He jumped out of the Focus just in time for it to get smashed, but he “tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train.”

The train must not have had the Brembo kit installed. Either that or the tires were worn, which we all know results in increased stopping distances.

The man will be held responsible for the damage to the choo choo and the track, as well as other losses of revenue, although maybe they can somehow put him in the next Under Siege movie as Steven Seagal’s stunt double if it involves a train again.

The full article after the jump.

BEDFORD HILLS - A 32-year-old Californian whose rental car got smashed by a Metro-North train last night was issued a minor summons for causing the fiery crash that stranded railroad commuters for hours.

Bo Bai, a computer technician from Sunnyvale who said he was merely trusting his car’s global positioning system when he steered onto the tracks, was cited for obstructing a railroad crossing, officials said this afternoon.

The railroad’s Harlem Division trains were back on schedule this morning after crews spent hours repairing more than 200 feet of the electrified “third” rail damaged by the crash, said Dan Brucker, Metro-North spokesman.

Bai, who has been working in Fishkill, was driving west on Green Lane around 7 p.m., and told Metropolitan Transportation Authority police the GPS system instructed him to turn right as he was crossing the tracks. He was headed for the Saw Mill River Parkway, just past the tracks.

He got stuck, tried unsuccessfully to reverse and finally abandoned the 2006 Ford Focus minutes before it was slammed by a northbound Metro-North Harlem Line train, MTA police said.

“As the car is driving over the tracks, the GPS system tells him to turn right, and he turns right onto the railroad tracks,” said Brucker. “That’s how it happened.”

Brucker added, “He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train.”

No one was injured, but about 500 passengers were stranded for more than two hours. Three trains out of Grand Central Terminal were canceled and 10 others delayed by up to 90 minutes. The damage was repaired by 2:30 a.m..

Source:

http://thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NEWS01/801030409

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