Is your car more important than your life?

There Is a trick to catch a monkey. Drill a small hole in a coconut and put something tasy in It that is larger than the hole. Most of the time the monkey will not let go of the treat and will be easy to catch. Sounds like the same think is happening in your case. Some people can’t cut their losses. In my case I’m not letting go of the past and can’t move on.

Oh boy, I’m glad I wasn’t born a monkey!!! :)

It sounds similar to what fighter pilots call “target fixation.” They get so focused on the target they are shooting that they fly right into it. Or a reluctance to eject when the plane is going down, believing to the last that they can pull it out. There is also a certain fear of bailing out of what was a safe place into a realm of unknown danger.
And something bad always happens to the other guy!

May be she couldn’t get out of the car because of some issues or frightened so much that couldn’t think what to do?

If it’s not suicide, maybe it’s “this can’t be happening!” or “I’m on the tracks, the train engineer must know how to handle this”.

Of course not.

People tend to be in denial about their own mortality, and often take risks from a frame of mind that doesn’t include the possibility of certain severely bad outcomes that they are not thinking about because they think that won’t happen in such a way that they don’t properly consider it even as it starts to happen.

Maybe Hollywood is partly to blame – they have people escape at the last minute with ridiculous regularity, and they also have their heroes take ridiculous risks that should by all rights get them killed many many times, but often most of the audience doesn’t notice or care.

It also somewhat reminds me of gambling addicts.

And a little bit of daredevils.

Because it’s fairly well documented that many people freeze when in danger. I froze at first when I was mugged. It was an incredible learning lesson for me. I would not have expected it. It’s why it’s good to practice your reaction in an emergency. Take self defense classes, even practice screaming.

She might have tried to start her car up again, that’s what we usually do when a car stalls. She just didn’t process everything in the situation well. Maybe right before the crash she thought to get out and then thought it was too late and safer in the car then half out of it.

It’s too bad she didn’t get out right away, but don’t be too harsh in your evaluation of what she did. It’s very difficult to handle crisis situations. Some people more than others.

Paralyzed by fear perhaps?

@JLeslie Good point & I’m NOT judging this particular girl. This situation just brought back my thoughts as during my lifetime I’ve heard of this happening over & over & over again in various situations where the people just sit there & I want to understand the possible thought process so I don’t make the same mistake IF I’m ever in the same situation!!!

@chyna Also another very valid idea!!! You reminded me of a time many years ago where I was cooking .dinner & my pan burst into flames. I quickly turned to go to the phone to call the fire department when the thought came through my mind that I could put it out faster & by time the FD could arrive my house would be engulfed in flames. So, I turned to go back to the pan when I realized that I didn’t have a lid handy to help snuff the flames & I’d have to reach over the flames to get to my box of baking soda. I did remember to not throw water on it because it was an oil based flame. Then I kind of turned in a circle in my kitchen with my brain going back & forth with the 2 thoughts & pretty much did nothing for what seemed like an eternity before my brain finally kicked in remembering where I had put the lid & I grabbed a lid to put out the fire. I hadn’t related that dingbat moment with how I would react when faced with a train coming toward me!!! Since my dingbat moment, I always keep a lid sitting within arms length whenever I cook. Maybe now I need to devise a plan to automatically think about getting my ass out of my car & getting out of the way!!!

Must have been in shock. I don’t even stop or go slow on train tracks. They’re everywhere in middle America and the best bet, taught in drivers ed, was never to park or stop across any tracks for safety. Seems like common sense to me.

@KNOWITALL I live in a really small town where the railroad was its lifeline back in the day. Even today we get a considerable amount of rr traffic coming through at various times of the day or night. No matter where you’re going, there is a train track you have to go across in order to get there. Very few people are willing to drive 20 miles out of their way to avoid a rr track. Most crossings don’t even have the protective gates. It’s part of our way of life & we don’t give it a 2nd thought. I doubt that she pulled up onto the tracks & then just stopped to wait on the next train. Police seem to think that she had car trouble & couldn’t get her car off the tracks. Of course, we’ll never know because once the train hit her car, there wasn’t much left to investigate!!! Then again, I’ve heard of similar experiences in places around Washington DC back when I lived up there. I think there was a similar event in Atlanta just last year. It just concerned me that most people failed to get themselves out of their car & just walk away when the reality is that they can’t protect themselves nor their vehicles by sitting there. Although it’s a simple answer, I never thought about being paralyzed by fear or going into shock & being unable to think rational. I hope I never have to find out what it feels like; but I’m going to make it a conscience effort to keep in mind that I need to exit my vehicle & walk away. The one thing I already do is I pretty much know the trains schedules around town & I do my best to schedule my trips at time I won’t be inconvenienced by a train.

I’d like to THANK EVERYBODY who responded for such thoughtful answers!!! This Q has bothered me for years & I never thought of the simple idea as to what happens when we freak out!!! I wasn’t attempting to judge anyone for the decision they made…I just truly didn’t want to make the same decision IF I’m ever forced to face the same problem. i knew the jellies here would point me in the right direction!!! THANKS AGAIN!!!

It’s foolishness to the extreme. Hell with the car, get out and save yourself. The only way I could ever justify staying in any thing in a life or death situation, would be those rare cases where a plane pilot has trouble over a populated area, then stays with it to guide it out to an isolated area to avoid killing other people. Even if it means loss of their own life.

When presented with dangers our central nervous systems become primed for what most people call fight or flight, but what in reality is fight flight or freeze. Seems like, unfortunately, this women went into freeze mode when her body recognized danger. It’s not a rational decision to remain in the car, is a physical paralyzation out of shock and fear.

@NomoreY_A Thank you for you input. I know that you mean what you said with ALL your heart. Well, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my lifetime & was reminded of here today is that we ALL have NO clue what we will do until we are faced with the problem!!! Just like with the fire in my kitchen, I knew I was supposed to call the fire department; however, my brain freaked out & I kept turning in circles trying to decide IF I could handle the problem more efficiently without calling the FD. I thought I would automatically know exactly what to do; but I was scared & confused when it finally happened to me!!!

I hope that when the time comes for you to face what you know you should do that you are more rational than I was!!!

The trick is to overcome the notion to just freeze. In the face of danger, you must act!