Another interesting comment, on contemporary subject matter, from Hayley Enoch:

http://www.friendsoftheflange.com/2015/ ... lroad.html

That "Friends of the Flange" lady has an uncommonly large amount of common sense !!! Her remarks are even more on point for museum visitors and volunteers than the general public, too, check it out.

And thanks for posting, Mr J3a.

says it all right there.

it is a perception problem

Having done media work I tend to think the news reporting has to neutralize their reporting or they get into "biased" reporting. they couldn't go out and say "so and so was stupid and put their car on the tracks". I know what she means, but how do you word it any other way, you have to take it as literal as possible. News reporting usually has to to be quick in their report but cannot make an assumption too quick to say where the fault lies. Thats the job of the police work and whatever ensuing legal proceedings.
I like what she's after about tho. But like Toronto after way too many people were suiciding jumping in front of streetcars, they quit news reporting it.

Well here's one from my town...

http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/georgia/man- ... -at/nkYwH/

There are two problems the news faces here.

The first is that they're writing headlines and trying to sell papers.

FOUR STRUCK AND KILLED BY TRAIN will sell more papers than "Four people were struck killed by a train after they drove their vehicle onto the crossing even though the gates were down."

The second is that often the facts are unclear at first and reports can change, sometimes dramatically. Did they ignore warning signs? Were the lights working? Were the gates down? Was the driver drunk? Did the brakes fail? Was he hit from behind by another car? For trespassers, it can be anything from somebody taking a shortcut and getting hit to a suicide. Speculating will only lead to getting it wrong.

Especially with today's slapdash reporting, they don't bother trying to sort out facts and they certainly don't wait for the investigation to be done.

George Carlin commented on many aspects of the human condition. Here's his view on train collisions involving non-railroad personnel:

“This item demonstrates how stupid the average American is. Every ninety minutes someone in this country is hit by a train. A train, okay? Trains are on tracks; they can’t come and get you. They can’t surprise you when you step off a curb. You have to go to them. Got that?”

There's these things called, "Deadlines." Often a reporter has only a certain amount of time to file the story. That's their job. So they go with what they have with the time alloted, and sometimes the police and fire fighters won't tell them zip.
I worked for a newspaper for 4 years, long ago, and I've seen our field people come in at the last second countless times with no time to do any checking because the editor is waiting.
Also, not every reporter can be a expert on every possible subject they cover. One story is about a grade crossing accident, and tomorrow's story is going to be about someone raising hogs for the state fair. No single person can possibly know everything about all these subjects.

George Carlen's humor was often laced with ironic truth, as good humor often does. That made him very popular. Long after his death he is great, thanks for the quote. His logic is hard to argue with, unless you don't understand cause and effect.

Regards, John.

And, it must be noted, the reporter generally does not write the headline.

I have seen this complaint about crossing crash reporting expressed in many posts on various railroad forums. It generally goes something like this:

If you say a car was hit by a train, it is unfair because it implies that the train sought out a victim and assaulted him/her. I do not think that average person would ever interpret it that way. But the people holding this view want to rewrite the headline to make the train innocent, while taking the opportunity to lecture the driver.

I would say that sometimes the train hit the car, and other times the car hits the train. It has nothing to do with blame.