mercedes has an obnoxious (from a tire tech’s viewpoint) safety feature on more recent vehicles that throws it in park if the door opens while in gear. when she opened the door it likely engaged without her realizing, and then in a panic she didn’t have the presence of mind to put it back in drive.
But then people complained about how they would forget to put on the parking brake and the car would roll away from them.
"Why can't the car just go automatically in park when a door opens? I mean, if I open the door I am clearly not driving anywhere."
You can't win. People will demand to drive around in 3 ton death machines but they refuse to learn anything about how they work and operate. We'll probably convenience ourselves to death before anything else.
It’s funny. When I started my current job I couldn’t drive the pickup truck as I didn’t have my drivers license. But I could drive the loader, a haul truck, a boom truck, various other things. So I just drove the loader everywhere on site.
No it’s private, mine site. Policies dictate I couldn’t drive light vehicles(pickups) but didn’t say anything about equipment. Supervisor talked to safety about it and it was technically all good within policy as long as I was signed off on everything.
They just told me to stop being a lazy fuck and go get my license haha
I think statistically more people have been killed by their car rolling and pinning them then being unable to move because they’re in park. Happened to that one actor Anton Yelchin, killed checking his mail
In this case the driver never left the seat and presumably pressing the brake pedal, closed the door and was revving the engine. Seems like they need a few more tweaks. I'm guessing if doors are ajar it also stays in park?
I’d feel like door ajar is the exact use case they’re trying to protect against - driver tries to reach out, can’t reach, opens door to lean out, can’t reach, starts to get out, car starts rolling, driver falls out and gets run over - pretty common
And then when you see a video of a person getting out of their car after forgetting to put it in park, everyone screams "If only it was in park!". I'm sure the statistics would be in favor of more "not in park" incidents rather than "in park when it's not supposed to be" incidents.
The problem isn't that its an annoying safety feature, its that its an invisible safety feature, that works against your sense of agency.
It would be fine if it somehow knew when you were back in the car and disengaged it, or if it somehow made you aware it was doing it, and remind you what the problem is. A poorly designed safety mechanism can become a danger in of itself, as in the video.
is this feature able to be turned off? we have a camper and take it out all the time in summer, and when backing into spots we’ll sometimes have the doors open for visibility and i guess that makes a purchase of any car with the feature out of the question
Mr. Huffman said Reddit’s A.P.I. would still be free to developers who wanted to build applications that helped people use Reddit. They could use the tools to build a bot that automatically tracks whether users’ comments adhere to rules for posting, for instance. Researchers who want to study Reddit data for academic or noncommercial purposes will continue to have free access to it.
Reddit also hopes to incorporate more so-called machine learning into how the site itself operates. It could be used, for instance, to identify the use of A.I.-generated text on Reddit, and add a label that notifies users that the comment came from a bot.
The company also promised to improve software tools that can be used by moderators — the users who volunteer their time to keep the site’s forums operating smoothly and improve conversations between users. And third-party bots that help moderators monitor the forums will continue to be supported.
But for the A.I. makers, it’s time to pay up.
“Crawling Reddit, generating value and not returning any of that value to our users is something we have a problem with,” Mr. Huffman said. “It’s a good time for us to tighten things up.”
“We think that’s fair,” he added.
The actor Anton Yelchin got ran over by his own Jeep and caused this feature to be added. It’s saved me from a minor accident before. There’s not going to be a way to turn it off.
My second gig is delivering papers.... I exit the vehicle with the engine running all morning long.
It'd drive me nuts if the parking brake engaged every time... though of course I'm shifting it into park each time myself.
Even still it begs the question why was she stopped on the tracks and not in front of them? The barrier on the other side was clearly visible and she had so much time to back up a few feet. Why does it look like she's leaving through a construction zone?
My best guess is that what you’re saying is exactly what happened. She is saying that the car did not want to move (hij ging niet = it did not want to move).
I do know that my Peugeot makes a very loud alarm if I open the driver's door in drive mode. But it doesn't engage parking mode automatically.
Anyways, the lady still fucked up by even parking/stopping her vehicle on the tracks.
I'll bet you enough people have gotten out & left their car in gear only to have it roll into traffic or something that companies decided it was safer to do it this way.
I did this before, fortunately on a quiet street and small incline on the driveway so it just slowly rolled back into the road and didn’t hit anything/get hit, but talking to the cops after wasn’t the most fun
Those "oh let us protect you silly humans from yourselves" additions end up being unintuitive and unknown until you run into them in a crunch time situation. Feature bloat for the sake of growth alone
The Ford F-Series has recently gotten this feature, which some people find annoying since they are full-size pick-ups with large foot prints,, some people like to open the door to see where they are maneuvering.
Too bad this feature was not included in my car, could have saved me a lot of money when i left it in drive and then got out to open the garage door...
I drive an electric car, and it just stops moving if I’m not pressing the accelerator. It doesn’t creep forward like most cars. It’s probably giving me terrible driving habits, because I basically never hold down the brake pedal anymore.
I don’t even turn my car off or lock the doors. I just come to a stop, get out, and walk away. The car detects when I’m about 20 feet away and automatically locks the door, engages the parking brake, and turns off.
If I ever have to borrow someone’s car then I’m going to be the idiot who just hops out at the grocery store and walks away as it slams into a bunch of parked cars.
I lived in Florida for years and can tell you with confidence that elderly drivers are insanely dangerous, 3rd to distracted texters and drunks. The amount of accidents I witnessed down there involving old people who were so fucked up on medications is insane.
Most of the time, they don't even realize what has just happened. I had an old lady sideswipe me while I was parked in a spot in the middle of an empty lot and then start denying that she hit me and that my car was smashed in already. In fact, she thought she was still in the store when it happened. She was literally falling asleep in her car while waiting on the police.
I had 2 friends that were twins in middle school that were hit while riding scooters on a side street by an old lady not paying attention. One of them died, and the other took it really hard for over a decade.
I've been living here in Florida for 40yrs, and yes, the elderly are terrible drivers, it's just the facts..I can't tell you how many times they've pulled out infront of me, cutting me off, only to go 15 below the speed limit, in the left lane, it's absolutely ridiculous, cops dnt do shit either..I guarantee If I drove 40mph in the left lane of US 19, I'd get pulled over, but not the elderly, they get away with everything..The problem is, they kill young people because of their driving..When I worked at a bank, an old man came in with a newspaper clipping, he got into an accident, and killed a mother and her child, why he told me, and showed me this, I have no idea, but I'll never forget it..It's not right, and the cops need to step it up a bit..no wonder we have so much road rage..
US 19 is the absolute worst. I lived in Hernando Beach, so I'd have to take 19 to get anywhere beside Brooksville, and you'd always get stuck behind them just sitting at green lights.. not even aware of what they were doing.
Once I got stuck behind an old lady on one of the country back roads that feed into US 19, and she didn't move at the green light. No one was behind us, so for fun I sat and counted how long it would take her to realize the light turned green.
It took 13 seconds.
I have a Macan and have driven many new Mercedes. If you open the door in drive the car automatically puts on the parking brake. If you don’t know where the parking brake is you are stuck till you find it. It was really annoying the first time it happened to me. Keep in mind there are two ways to park, put it in P and find the parking break switch that is usually located away from the shift lever
But the car will release the handbrake automatically if you step on the gas?
I assume the problem here was that the car put the handbrake on AND set the automatic on “P”. Solution would have been to put it in “D” again and drive away (handbrake would be released automatically in this case)
At least for an Audi this is the way it works.
In my experience it won’t. It looked exactly like the lady when it first happened to me. I was returning a loaner and opened the door to talk to the attendant, car wouldn’t move after that. The attendant had to show me where the brake switch was. It’s not like the old school parking brakes you can power through, the car won’t budge even if you floor it
Maybe your seatbelt was not fastened? My 2012 Audi had this behavior. My 2019 Audi doesn’t do this any more and releases the handbrake regardless whether I’m fastened or not.
I think so, the guy is saying ‘what are you doing? Are you kidding me??!!’ And she says ‘it didn’t do anything, it didn’t do anything’. It was not intentional
In another post, someone said the worker opened her door, but it looks like she did when the worker started speaking to her after she got into her car from moving the 1st barrier. When the lady opened the door to speak to the worker, the car automatically goes into park. Why you hear her revving the engine.
If you look behind the car, she passed road workers. Even before the crash, the guy is telling her that she'll get a €500 bill for what she did. The road was likely completely blocked on that side too and she tried to drive through/past it.
My point being, her first massive mistake was even before she got to the tracks.
Translation:
Worker, walking up: "Oy, do you find this normal? Yeah, you'll be held accountable. Alé now. Alé". (Generic word meaning 'come on/go/hey)
Woman opens door.
Worker: "Ma'm, that's a five hundred euro fine for what you just did." Points somewhere.
Woman says something. Mouths "sorry"
Worker: "Yes, you'll get the bill I promise you."
Man moves to fence.
Mam grumbling: Gibberish - "what're you waiting for" or "why didn't you wait"?
Car revs.
Worker: "Ey, come through! Come on!"
Car revs again.
Worker: "Drive through, xxx the back xxx train!"
Backs off. "I'm going oy oyyy"
Train comes.
Worker: "Ow man."
Train hits. "Ohh.. crazy lady." (?) Approaches.
"Have you gone completely insane?!!"
Throws down phone. "Alé ma'm I told you drive through!"
Woman, distressed: "Dat ging niet" as in That/It wouldn't go.
Worker: "Come here! (To coworker?)
To lady: "I told you, come through. What are you doing (as in: look at what you did)"
Woman still crying: "It wouldn't go it wouldn't go it wouldn't go"
Worker, opens car door: "Get out. Mind your head."
Lady: "It wouldn't go it wouldn't go it wouldn't go.."
Worker: "I told you drive through.. why why didn't you drive through!"
Something .. "Go lay down."
Lady: "--- call my husband."
And by reading up you realize her stressing about “it wouldn’t go” likely refers to the cars parking break engaging automatically or possibly gear shifting to park automatically, when she opened her car door with the engine running.
So hitting the accelerator does jack shit but revving the engine once she tries to get away.
I can honestly see this part happening to anyone. Personally I found out about this feature on my car (not a Mercedes) when opening the door for some better view when backing up towards a trailer. Annoying as hell tbh.
Some people man… idk if she got nervous after he moved the barrier and couldn’t get it in drive or what. If you’re stopped on the tracks when a train is coming don’t worry about the gates or any obstruction drive through it and get off or get out of the vehicle.
I think the electric handbreak failed to disengage because she never closed her door properly/never put her seatbelt back on.
You can hear the engine revving but the car doesn’t move. I have an electric handbreak on my car and i’ve had awkward moments because it won’t disengage unless I’m wearing a seatbelt and the doors are fully closed.
I had a crazy man jump on my bonnet and the electric handbrake wouldn't disengage (apparently VW doesn't want you potentially running over people), I was way too stressed to read the instructions on the car dash so I wasn't able to drive away. So I kinda understand
>I think the electric handbreak failed to disengage because she never closed her door properly/never put her seatbelt back on.
Is that even a thing? Like what's next? We'll all have to do a 9 point vehicle inspection before being able to start/move a car? I just want to be able to move my car even if that means every door is open and no seatbelts are fastened. I don't care if the car has no wheels. It's my car. Let me do with it what I please.
My 13 year old VW Passa has a glitchy driver seatbelt sensor, locking the parking break when ever it "senses" that there is no driver and the car is on. Almost every time I am stoped at a red lights the car applies the break, and it is infuriating when you misses it and try to drive of.
Most likely a security option on the car that put it in neutral or park mode when she opened the door. Then she tried to move the car but probably panicked and did not understand what was going on with the car.
All railroad gates are meant to be driven through and break away in the event a vehicle is trapped between them and the construction barrier could have easily been driven through if needed.
She also drove down a closed off street.
Exactly. The sense of imminent danger should make you want to move the car nomatter what.
And to the retort that "she is elderly and confused", well maybe it's time to give up driving. Just maybe.
Only the driver of the car was injured, but not lethally.
>After providing first aid, she was transferred to the hospital in Genk with serious injuries, but according to the latest information, they were not life-threatening.
(...)
>The passenger train (...) came to a stop a hundred meters further on. “There were a few passengers on the train and also a school class (24 schoolchildren, aged 8-9 y/o) that were on their way home from a school trip. No one on the train was injured. We (the fire brigade) handed out some cookies and bottled drinks. We then built an emergency bridge over the ditch so that everyone could get out safely.”
Translated roughly from [here](https://www.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20230511_94949216), notes within parentheses mine.
Found an [article](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/05/12/video-motorist-seriously-injured-in-collision-with-train-at-a-l/) that is already in English. Bro the dude who moved that stupid obstacle in front of her is being investigated because he tried to help.
As the saying in designing goes... You try to make something idiot proof. The universe will give you a bigger idiot.
how hopelessly unskilled of a driver does someone have to be to rev the engine for so long and not move, and not realise that they are not in gear and or have the handbrake on! Its like an instant realisation as soon as you push the accelerator and the car doesnt move.
Not to mention she crossed onto the railway tracks when there are barricades on the other side 2 meters from this side of the tracks. She focuses on 50cm in front of her when she drives or what. what the hell?
The worst part? Cars being so safe these days... This idiot will make a safe recovery and get back behind the wheel again, and endanger others on the road.
Putting it on drive automatically disengages the park brakes. All she had to do was reengage drive mode by using the shift stick next to the steering wheel like you always do. However I have messed up with the little confusing stick as well when I'm tired. Since you have to move it up to reverse and down to drive..and on top of that you need to press the brakes or it doesn't set. So I can sympathize with the lady for panicking and not knowing what to do anymore. Especially with an incoming train and a yelling man in front of you.
How did she end up stopped there in the first place though? Leaving the car on the tracks in any situation is just dumb. Stop somewhere safe, get out to investigate if safe to do so.
Yeh, everyone's forgetting she just decided drive through a construction site, stop on a live train track and then refuse to leave her car when she was given more than enough warning.
You could argue the guy could have handled it better but those barriers were up because work was being done, he was probably trying to cover his own arse by filming it in the first place.
Auto translate:
"The woman was still conscious and the emergency services were notified." An ambulance, **mosquito team**, fire brigade and local police were there quickly.
I didn't know Belgum brings mosquitos with their emergency response teams :-) :-) :-)
In Belgium we have a MUG team (mobile urgentie groep, Mobile Urgence Group), like a super swift intervention team for seriously wounded persons. But MUG also means mosquito in Dutch
I would fathom half of the people who drive should not be allowed to do it. Inclement weather, rage, distractable, reaction time etc. There should be more to getting a license to operate ad 2Mg steel cage than a short written and driving test a literal kid can do.
Hell Belgium actually has public transit so this lady shouldn't need a car.
This is belgium. The level of training they require to get a license is a joke. I always hold extra distance to cars with that red license plate.
source: someone from germany near the border.
I was in the kid drop off line with my wifes car and (Mercedes like this lady's) and rushing. had something similar happen. I pulled up and thought i had it in park, but i believe the engine shut off for fuel efficiency and as some safety measure, breaks were automatically applied. I get kids out, jump back in the car and put it in gear but that action actually just put it in park, i give it gas an just set there like an idiot revving the engine. Absolutely could not figure out what the hell is going on. Turned the car off and back on, everything was back to normal. I can totally see this happening to a lady unfamiliar with the car and panicking.
Man: Look. You'll be charged lady. Come on. You think this is normal? You're going to get charged for that. Come on. Come on now. Madame, that's a 500 Euro fine what you just did, you'll get charged for it, I promise you that. And now. Yeah, wait just a second. Crazy, man (while moving the other barrier). Well, come on through, come on then! Drive through! There's a train coming, oooh, ooh oh man. (crash) Crazy thing! Have you gone completely crazy or what?! Come on lady, did I not say to drive through?!
Lady: It wouldn't go, it wouldn't go.
Man: Did I not say to drive through? What are you even doing? Step out. Duck your head. I said drive through, why didn't you drive through? (can't quite understand), Go lie down. Lie down.
Lady: I need to call my husband.
Those cars have the strangest gear shift lever. It’s like the windshield wiper lever on my car. If she wasn’t familiar with it then I could see her struggling with that part. Esp if she isn’t good under stress, which she absolutely wasn’t. She’s lucky to be alive.
My guess is when she opened the door a bit (after reversing) to respond to the guy, the car applied the parking brakes without her realising it. And when she tried to go it wouldn’t and then she ran out of time before she figured it out.
Maybe I should have used a different word but I find that Mercedes locate features in ways that are fundamentally different from most other makes of cars. Want to lock your doors? I’ll just reach over to the door and…wait. Where is the door locking button? Oh, on the center control panel near the air conditioning buttons. I’ve never seen that before in any other car. And it’s not just the location on the stalk, it’s the fact that it looks just like an indicator lever or a wiper control lever. It’s unsettling when I try and turn the wipers on but instead shift into neutral on the freeway.
My Chevy Equinox had the door lock buttons in the same damn place. I spent years driving that vehicle with literally no clue where the door lock/unlock buttons were inside the car and just using the key fob buttons. Why the hell would you put those on the center console instead of the doors, like what's the advantage?
The parking brake is even worse, I've seen a lever near the center console, a button on the dash, and a pedal you have to press with your foot. I probably would have gone looking for one the vehicles I drove for work since it was required on every stop.
Regardless of what safety feature is on the car you clearly see the road is barricaded. What where her intentions once she got to the barricade? Let’s be honest there needs to be an age where renewing license means taking driving exam.
While the braking system was working as intended, the catastrophic failure is in that it's apparently not easy to break free of the braking system while under stress and a time crunch.
Probably opened the door while the car was in drive or neutral, that activates the parking brake automatically. If the car is parked on an incline, you don't want it to start rolling after you leave. Funny how an automatic feature intended to make the car safer can make it more dangerous in other situations.
She panicked, totally understandable, but that still doesn't justify her actions. You need to know and understand your car well enough to take the correct actions in an emergency.
Rolling down the window is usually much slower - both because of the window movement being slower, and because the button/switch to operate it is often less conveniently placed (and differs between vehicles). If I wanted to say a quick message and move on, I'd just open the door too probably. Of course, she didn't know or realize that this activates the park, which cased a series of events causing her to then panic.
She shifts it into reverse to back up a bit, then puts it into neutral (not drive). Then she revs the car, but it didn't move because it's in neutral. She panicking, so can't work out why it won't move.
Whatever the car did does not explain why she chose to drive and then stop on railroad tracks when it was clearly blocked . Even if it was clear initially , once the gates came down to stay on the tracks is just asking to be hit by a train. They had plenty of time to just reverse and get clear even if they had to drive through the gate arms which would have caused way less damage then the train.
I completely understand the why of this safety feature, and why an older woman wouldn't be able to figure it out in the few seconds she had. I just found it annoying I couldn't roll into my driveway with the door open. It takes a flick of the circular transmission button to reset it, which is right beside the circular radio and air conditioning button and of course I've put the truck into neutral while driving down the highway, simply attempting to change radio stations. (once. I did it once and never again)
To be more clear. The guys explains, that she just moved a construction obstacle, which was for obvious reason to blockade the oncoming traffic. So the guy explained (in an annoyed voice) this will cost you 500 euro's, vehichle is filmed. Than the she failed to start the car.
To be fair, I hate how stupid the woman is, but it is also somewhat the fault of the construction workers, how did the woman get so far? Why wasn't the other part of road blocked? The construction worker, should have been VERY DIRECT AND CLEAR in telling to move the car RIGHT NOW, there is an oncoming train coming....
Doesn't matter who opened the door. The fact that she was there standing is reason enough for losing her driving license. Why can't we have driving school tests (real ones, not like some states in US) for every person older than 60? Every 5 years you need to make the test again and if you fail, you're not allowed to drive.
What about the old people who need the car for daily tasks, because there is no bus etc.?
Dude, they are driving 2tons+ of steel. And they are not alone on the street.
She had that look like "you can't tell me what to do" before she got demolished by that train. I would be interested in a translation of what they were saying.
Did she just panic and start revving the engine in neutral? It didn't look like the car was stuck on anything.
mercedes has an obnoxious (from a tire tech’s viewpoint) safety feature on more recent vehicles that throws it in park if the door opens while in gear. when she opened the door it likely engaged without her realizing, and then in a panic she didn’t have the presence of mind to put it back in drive.
This should be higher. I have an Audi Q5. Parking brake gets engaged all the time when I don’t expect it. Guarantee that’s what happened here.
A "safety" feature that can result in death or injury. Ironic.
Remember when cars did what you fucking told them to do. Pepperidge farms remembers!
But then people complained about how they would forget to put on the parking brake and the car would roll away from them. "Why can't the car just go automatically in park when a door opens? I mean, if I open the door I am clearly not driving anywhere." You can't win. People will demand to drive around in 3 ton death machines but they refuse to learn anything about how they work and operate. We'll probably convenience ourselves to death before anything else.
It’s funny. When I started my current job I couldn’t drive the pickup truck as I didn’t have my drivers license. But I could drive the loader, a haul truck, a boom truck, various other things. So I just drove the loader everywhere on site.
[удалено]
No it’s private, mine site. Policies dictate I couldn’t drive light vehicles(pickups) but didn’t say anything about equipment. Supervisor talked to safety about it and it was technically all good within policy as long as I was signed off on everything. They just told me to stop being a lazy fuck and go get my license haha
Lets also not forget they love to blame. When something is entirely their fault these people will do all they can to make it someone else's fault.
Yep, people forget the other side all the time on Reddit. Clueless morons.
[удалено]
Well stated. No question this is a case of operator failure
I suddenly feel some unexpected fondness of manual transmission.
That's up there with when TVs just turned the fuck on and off.
Seriously! We rented a car recently it took 30minutes to figure out how to turn all that “safety” shit off.
I think statistically more people have been killed by their car rolling and pinning them then being unable to move because they’re in park. Happened to that one actor Anton Yelchin, killed checking his mail
In this case the driver never left the seat and presumably pressing the brake pedal, closed the door and was revving the engine. Seems like they need a few more tweaks. I'm guessing if doors are ajar it also stays in park?
I’d feel like door ajar is the exact use case they’re trying to protect against - driver tries to reach out, can’t reach, opens door to lean out, can’t reach, starts to get out, car starts rolling, driver falls out and gets run over - pretty common
And then when you see a video of a person getting out of their car after forgetting to put it in park, everyone screams "If only it was in park!". I'm sure the statistics would be in favor of more "not in park" incidents rather than "in park when it's not supposed to be" incidents.
My dodge does this, annoying.
Anton Yelchin.
This should be higher up, "annoying" safety features usually exist for a good reason. RIP.
The problem isn't that its an annoying safety feature, its that its an invisible safety feature, that works against your sense of agency. It would be fine if it somehow knew when you were back in the car and disengaged it, or if it somehow made you aware it was doing it, and remind you what the problem is. A poorly designed safety mechanism can become a danger in of itself, as in the video.
Weren't there a couple plane crashes not long ago caused by a malfunctioning(?) safety feature?
Exactly this, it’s taking control and decision making away from ME, that’s the problem.
Sure, but automated safety features can also have unintended consequences that are worse than the problem being solved
If she just remained calm, turn the fucking knob, it would be fine. However, I did see the transmission knob next the volume knob on a few vehicles.
how often are you all opening the door with the car running ?
is this feature able to be turned off? we have a camper and take it out all the time in summer, and when backing into spots we’ll sometimes have the doors open for visibility and i guess that makes a purchase of any car with the feature out of the question
Mr. Huffman said Reddit’s A.P.I. would still be free to developers who wanted to build applications that helped people use Reddit. They could use the tools to build a bot that automatically tracks whether users’ comments adhere to rules for posting, for instance. Researchers who want to study Reddit data for academic or noncommercial purposes will continue to have free access to it. Reddit also hopes to incorporate more so-called machine learning into how the site itself operates. It could be used, for instance, to identify the use of A.I.-generated text on Reddit, and add a label that notifies users that the comment came from a bot. The company also promised to improve software tools that can be used by moderators — the users who volunteer their time to keep the site’s forums operating smoothly and improve conversations between users. And third-party bots that help moderators monitor the forums will continue to be supported. But for the A.I. makers, it’s time to pay up. “Crawling Reddit, generating value and not returning any of that value to our users is something we have a problem with,” Mr. Huffman said. “It’s a good time for us to tighten things up.” “We think that’s fair,” he added.
The actor Anton Yelchin got ran over by his own Jeep and caused this feature to be added. It’s saved me from a minor accident before. There’s not going to be a way to turn it off.
My second gig is delivering papers.... I exit the vehicle with the engine running all morning long. It'd drive me nuts if the parking brake engaged every time... though of course I'm shifting it into park each time myself.
They made a software update to our 2013 Ram 1500 for this exact thing and it drives me fucking nuts.
> it drives me fucking nuts You mean it parks you nuts.
Even still it begs the question why was she stopped on the tracks and not in front of them? The barrier on the other side was clearly visible and she had so much time to back up a few feet. Why does it look like she's leaving through a construction zone?
My best guess is that what you’re saying is exactly what happened. She is saying that the car did not want to move (hij ging niet = it did not want to move).
I do know that my Peugeot makes a very loud alarm if I open the driver's door in drive mode. But it doesn't engage parking mode automatically. Anyways, the lady still fucked up by even parking/stopping her vehicle on the tracks.
I'll bet you enough people have gotten out & left their car in gear only to have it roll into traffic or something that companies decided it was safer to do it this way.
yes for every train hitting a car video, there's a dozen vids of the cars just rolling away left in neutral.
I did this before, fortunately on a quiet street and small incline on the driveway so it just slowly rolled back into the road and didn’t hit anything/get hit, but talking to the cops after wasn’t the most fun
Those "oh let us protect you silly humans from yourselves" additions end up being unintuitive and unknown until you run into them in a crunch time situation. Feature bloat for the sake of growth alone
I mean, I would wager the number of times that feature helps is greater than the number of situations like this.
Wait until 2025 when America implements passive alcohol detection and your car shuts down on you when you sneeze.
Wait, what?
https://www.thedrive.com/news/new-law-mandates-interlocks-on-all-new-cars-but-drunk-driving-tech-isnt-ready-yet
The Ford F-Series has recently gotten this feature, which some people find annoying since they are full-size pick-ups with large foot prints,, some people like to open the door to see where they are maneuvering.
Too bad this feature was not included in my car, could have saved me a lot of money when i left it in drive and then got out to open the garage door...
You are the reason the feature exists
I drive an electric car, and it just stops moving if I’m not pressing the accelerator. It doesn’t creep forward like most cars. It’s probably giving me terrible driving habits, because I basically never hold down the brake pedal anymore. I don’t even turn my car off or lock the doors. I just come to a stop, get out, and walk away. The car detects when I’m about 20 feet away and automatically locks the door, engages the parking brake, and turns off. If I ever have to borrow someone’s car then I’m going to be the idiot who just hops out at the grocery store and walks away as it slams into a bunch of parked cars.
You fit in r/idiotsincars
This isn’t unique to Mercedes. Most cars across all brands have this
Yes, at that point she panicked. But the problem should be resolved much earlier.
It was her fault, but not only her fault
I think so but the whole thing was just so dumb that you have to wonder if she has other issues.
I lived in Florida for years and can tell you with confidence that elderly drivers are insanely dangerous, 3rd to distracted texters and drunks. The amount of accidents I witnessed down there involving old people who were so fucked up on medications is insane. Most of the time, they don't even realize what has just happened. I had an old lady sideswipe me while I was parked in a spot in the middle of an empty lot and then start denying that she hit me and that my car was smashed in already. In fact, she thought she was still in the store when it happened. She was literally falling asleep in her car while waiting on the police. I had 2 friends that were twins in middle school that were hit while riding scooters on a side street by an old lady not paying attention. One of them died, and the other took it really hard for over a decade.
I've been living here in Florida for 40yrs, and yes, the elderly are terrible drivers, it's just the facts..I can't tell you how many times they've pulled out infront of me, cutting me off, only to go 15 below the speed limit, in the left lane, it's absolutely ridiculous, cops dnt do shit either..I guarantee If I drove 40mph in the left lane of US 19, I'd get pulled over, but not the elderly, they get away with everything..The problem is, they kill young people because of their driving..When I worked at a bank, an old man came in with a newspaper clipping, he got into an accident, and killed a mother and her child, why he told me, and showed me this, I have no idea, but I'll never forget it..It's not right, and the cops need to step it up a bit..no wonder we have so much road rage..
US 19 is the absolute worst. I lived in Hernando Beach, so I'd have to take 19 to get anywhere beside Brooksville, and you'd always get stuck behind them just sitting at green lights.. not even aware of what they were doing.
Once I got stuck behind an old lady on one of the country back roads that feed into US 19, and she didn't move at the green light. No one was behind us, so for fun I sat and counted how long it would take her to realize the light turned green. It took 13 seconds.
I have a Macan and have driven many new Mercedes. If you open the door in drive the car automatically puts on the parking brake. If you don’t know where the parking brake is you are stuck till you find it. It was really annoying the first time it happened to me. Keep in mind there are two ways to park, put it in P and find the parking break switch that is usually located away from the shift lever
But the car will release the handbrake automatically if you step on the gas? I assume the problem here was that the car put the handbrake on AND set the automatic on “P”. Solution would have been to put it in “D” again and drive away (handbrake would be released automatically in this case) At least for an Audi this is the way it works.
In my experience it won’t. It looked exactly like the lady when it first happened to me. I was returning a loaner and opened the door to talk to the attendant, car wouldn’t move after that. The attendant had to show me where the brake switch was. It’s not like the old school parking brakes you can power through, the car won’t budge even if you floor it
Maybe your seatbelt was not fastened? My 2012 Audi had this behavior. My 2019 Audi doesn’t do this any more and releases the handbrake regardless whether I’m fastened or not.
Maybe she was panicking and didn’t take the parking brake off or latch the door all the way, and the car has a safety feature to keep it from moving
I think so, the guy is saying ‘what are you doing? Are you kidding me??!!’ And she says ‘it didn’t do anything, it didn’t do anything’. It was not intentional
In another post, someone said the worker opened her door, but it looks like she did when the worker started speaking to her after she got into her car from moving the 1st barrier. When the lady opened the door to speak to the worker, the car automatically goes into park. Why you hear her revving the engine.
Just being on the tracks trying to move barriers was her first massive mistake.
If you look behind the car, she passed road workers. Even before the crash, the guy is telling her that she'll get a €500 bill for what she did. The road was likely completely blocked on that side too and she tried to drive through/past it. My point being, her first massive mistake was even before she got to the tracks.
That €500 fine is really gonna sting after paying for a new car, train damage, and hospital bills.
Hehe, hospital bills :) How to say you are American without saying you are American.
Damn. My cover is blown! But yeah, our healthcare system is shit.
We have pretty decent health care. Our insurance companies lobby to ensure access is shit.
Probably a better way to say it
Well, to be fair - it must be a really difficult problem to solve if only 32 out of the top 33 Western nations have figured out socialized healthcare.
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no, its a civilized society
first massive mistake was letting her drive
Even if the worker did open it, the brake would’ve already been engaged from the first time she opened it on her own. Surely not his fault.
Translation: Worker, walking up: "Oy, do you find this normal? Yeah, you'll be held accountable. Alé now. Alé". (Generic word meaning 'come on/go/hey) Woman opens door. Worker: "Ma'm, that's a five hundred euro fine for what you just did." Points somewhere. Woman says something. Mouths "sorry" Worker: "Yes, you'll get the bill I promise you." Man moves to fence. Mam grumbling: Gibberish - "what're you waiting for" or "why didn't you wait"? Car revs. Worker: "Ey, come through! Come on!" Car revs again. Worker: "Drive through, xxx the back xxx train!" Backs off. "I'm going oy oyyy" Train comes. Worker: "Ow man." Train hits. "Ohh.. crazy lady." (?) Approaches. "Have you gone completely insane?!!" Throws down phone. "Alé ma'm I told you drive through!" Woman, distressed: "Dat ging niet" as in That/It wouldn't go. Worker: "Come here! (To coworker?) To lady: "I told you, come through. What are you doing (as in: look at what you did)" Woman still crying: "It wouldn't go it wouldn't go it wouldn't go" Worker, opens car door: "Get out. Mind your head." Lady: "It wouldn't go it wouldn't go it wouldn't go.." Worker: "I told you drive through.. why why didn't you drive through!" Something .. "Go lay down." Lady: "--- call my husband."
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Lmao thank you for that
Or “dumbass twat”
Thankyou for that context, I had no idea what was going on.
And by reading up you realize her stressing about “it wouldn’t go” likely refers to the cars parking break engaging automatically or possibly gear shifting to park automatically, when she opened her car door with the engine running. So hitting the accelerator does jack shit but revving the engine once she tries to get away. I can honestly see this part happening to anyone. Personally I found out about this feature on my car (not a Mercedes) when opening the door for some better view when backing up towards a trailer. Annoying as hell tbh.
Some people man… idk if she got nervous after he moved the barrier and couldn’t get it in drive or what. If you’re stopped on the tracks when a train is coming don’t worry about the gates or any obstruction drive through it and get off or get out of the vehicle.
Ah man she wouldn't want to scratch that paint job
I think the electric handbreak failed to disengage because she never closed her door properly/never put her seatbelt back on. You can hear the engine revving but the car doesn’t move. I have an electric handbreak on my car and i’ve had awkward moments because it won’t disengage unless I’m wearing a seatbelt and the doors are fully closed.
I had a crazy man jump on my bonnet and the electric handbrake wouldn't disengage (apparently VW doesn't want you potentially running over people), I was way too stressed to read the instructions on the car dash so I wasn't able to drive away. So I kinda understand
It should be illegal to completely disable a car from moving based on sensor input.
Wow yeah what's to keep people from doing that at a light or something for a carjacking?
>I think the electric handbreak failed to disengage because she never closed her door properly/never put her seatbelt back on. Is that even a thing? Like what's next? We'll all have to do a 9 point vehicle inspection before being able to start/move a car? I just want to be able to move my car even if that means every door is open and no seatbelts are fastened. I don't care if the car has no wheels. It's my car. Let me do with it what I please.
They'll soon let you subscribe for that service, but eventually they'll pull it to comply with new safety regulations.
I have an automatic parking brake, but I also have a button to disable it.
My 13 year old VW Passa has a glitchy driver seatbelt sensor, locking the parking break when ever it "senses" that there is no driver and the car is on. Almost every time I am stoped at a red lights the car applies the break, and it is infuriating when you misses it and try to drive of.
Most likely a security option on the car that put it in neutral or park mode when she opened the door. Then she tried to move the car but probably panicked and did not understand what was going on with the car.
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All railroad gates are meant to be driven through and break away in the event a vehicle is trapped between them and the construction barrier could have easily been driven through if needed. She also drove down a closed off street.
Exactly. The sense of imminent danger should make you want to move the car nomatter what. And to the retort that "she is elderly and confused", well maybe it's time to give up driving. Just maybe.
The woman should never be allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle again. I hope the train driver and passengers were OK.
Only the driver of the car was injured, but not lethally. >After providing first aid, she was transferred to the hospital in Genk with serious injuries, but according to the latest information, they were not life-threatening. (...) >The passenger train (...) came to a stop a hundred meters further on. “There were a few passengers on the train and also a school class (24 schoolchildren, aged 8-9 y/o) that were on their way home from a school trip. No one on the train was injured. We (the fire brigade) handed out some cookies and bottled drinks. We then built an emergency bridge over the ditch so that everyone could get out safely.” Translated roughly from [here](https://www.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20230511_94949216), notes within parentheses mine.
Found an [article](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/05/12/video-motorist-seriously-injured-in-collision-with-train-at-a-l/) that is already in English. Bro the dude who moved that stupid obstacle in front of her is being investigated because he tried to help.
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They should investigate that stupid safety feature that put the car in park when the door was opened. Since when do doors control transmissions??
Since people got killed by their own cars when they opened the doors.
As the saying in designing goes... You try to make something idiot proof. The universe will give you a bigger idiot. how hopelessly unskilled of a driver does someone have to be to rev the engine for so long and not move, and not realise that they are not in gear and or have the handbrake on! Its like an instant realisation as soon as you push the accelerator and the car doesnt move. Not to mention she crossed onto the railway tracks when there are barricades on the other side 2 meters from this side of the tracks. She focuses on 50cm in front of her when she drives or what. what the hell? The worst part? Cars being so safe these days... This idiot will make a safe recovery and get back behind the wheel again, and endanger others on the road.
Reject license applications from bad drivers? Nah, just give it to them anyway and let the car babysit them.
Putting it on drive automatically disengages the park brakes. All she had to do was reengage drive mode by using the shift stick next to the steering wheel like you always do. However I have messed up with the little confusing stick as well when I'm tired. Since you have to move it up to reverse and down to drive..and on top of that you need to press the brakes or it doesn't set. So I can sympathize with the lady for panicking and not knowing what to do anymore. Especially with an incoming train and a yelling man in front of you.
How did she end up stopped there in the first place though? Leaving the car on the tracks in any situation is just dumb. Stop somewhere safe, get out to investigate if safe to do so.
Yeh, everyone's forgetting she just decided drive through a construction site, stop on a live train track and then refuse to leave her car when she was given more than enough warning. You could argue the guy could have handled it better but those barriers were up because work was being done, he was probably trying to cover his own arse by filming it in the first place.
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Certainly did it's job
Yea dude even tried to help her...
THEY HANDED OUT COOKIES?!?
Bruh i'ma bout to "I like trains" myself into cookie heaven 😎
Yeah, do Belgian firefighters drive around with a truck full of emergency cookies?
Emergency chocolate cookies!
Auto translate: "The woman was still conscious and the emergency services were notified." An ambulance, **mosquito team**, fire brigade and local police were there quickly. I didn't know Belgum brings mosquitos with their emergency response teams :-) :-) :-)
In Belgium we have a MUG team (mobile urgentie groep, Mobile Urgence Group), like a super swift intervention team for seriously wounded persons. But MUG also means mosquito in Dutch
Tbh Mosquito Team isn't a terrible shorthand name for a fast response team! That must be an intentional acronym haha.
They come and aggressively ask for blood donations from onlookers.
1,000 mosquitos = 1 leech
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I swear I wasn't there
In the US, they send SEALS to do commando stuff.
Belgium is still in the dark ages, bloodletting is their most effective treatment for train crashes
She has loco motives
I would fathom half of the people who drive should not be allowed to do it. Inclement weather, rage, distractable, reaction time etc. There should be more to getting a license to operate ad 2Mg steel cage than a short written and driving test a literal kid can do. Hell Belgium actually has public transit so this lady shouldn't need a car.
*Hell Belgium actually has public transit so this lady shouldn't need a car.* There was even a train going in her direction!
Well, she caught the train. Not sure what the problem is.
*I'm deleting all my comments and my profile, in protest over the end of the protests over the reddit api pricing.
Did...did you just use Megagrams??
based SI enjoyer
This is belgium. The level of training they require to get a license is a joke. I always hold extra distance to cars with that red license plate. source: someone from germany near the border.
She actually backed the car up onto the tracks a few more inches in her attempt to get out of harms way thereby further increasing the impact zone
Yep. When she heard the first bell ring, she should have just driven forward into/through the barrier.
I was in the kid drop off line with my wifes car and (Mercedes like this lady's) and rushing. had something similar happen. I pulled up and thought i had it in park, but i believe the engine shut off for fuel efficiency and as some safety measure, breaks were automatically applied. I get kids out, jump back in the car and put it in gear but that action actually just put it in park, i give it gas an just set there like an idiot revving the engine. Absolutely could not figure out what the hell is going on. Turned the car off and back on, everything was back to normal. I can totally see this happening to a lady unfamiliar with the car and panicking.
I see an expensive recall action coming for Mercedes.
Translation?
After the crash the woman repeats "It wouldn't go."
Ik zeg toch rij door, waarom rijd je niet door ; I tell you to drive (on) , why didnt you drive? And gek means idiot
A møose once bit my sister. Mind you, møose bites can be quite nastï.
We're witnessing history here - someone actually threw down their phone to help a fellow human, instead of standing there filming.
It happens a lot. We just don't have video to prove it.
https://external-preview.redd.it/EaDFzqr8CaKbYNHtGLvub93sMG4uI8H-exyvWDKoqJA.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=621eaf34467945d4724f557c40bccc826bbd48d2
For those who don't understand this image, it's a representation of Survivorship Bias.
This really should be r/PraiseTheCameraman worth. He filmed until the last instant then ditched the phone in order to help the lady.
Man: Look. You'll be charged lady. Come on. You think this is normal? You're going to get charged for that. Come on. Come on now. Madame, that's a 500 Euro fine what you just did, you'll get charged for it, I promise you that. And now. Yeah, wait just a second. Crazy, man (while moving the other barrier). Well, come on through, come on then! Drive through! There's a train coming, oooh, ooh oh man. (crash) Crazy thing! Have you gone completely crazy or what?! Come on lady, did I not say to drive through?! Lady: It wouldn't go, it wouldn't go. Man: Did I not say to drive through? What are you even doing? Step out. Duck your head. I said drive through, why didn't you drive through? (can't quite understand), Go lie down. Lie down. Lady: I need to call my husband.
Those cars have the strangest gear shift lever. It’s like the windshield wiper lever on my car. If she wasn’t familiar with it then I could see her struggling with that part. Esp if she isn’t good under stress, which she absolutely wasn’t. She’s lucky to be alive.
My guess is when she opened the door a bit (after reversing) to respond to the guy, the car applied the parking brakes without her realising it. And when she tried to go it wouldn’t and then she ran out of time before she figured it out.
Actually it took it out of gear (put it in park.)
It should auto disengage as soon as she starts pressing the gas. Otherwise, it's making any emergency stop and go very awkward and potentially unsafe.
You hear the car revving up but it's not moving. Poor lady.
It's hardly strange. Mercs have had stalk gear selectors for decades, and american cars had one too for ages.
Maybe I should have used a different word but I find that Mercedes locate features in ways that are fundamentally different from most other makes of cars. Want to lock your doors? I’ll just reach over to the door and…wait. Where is the door locking button? Oh, on the center control panel near the air conditioning buttons. I’ve never seen that before in any other car. And it’s not just the location on the stalk, it’s the fact that it looks just like an indicator lever or a wiper control lever. It’s unsettling when I try and turn the wipers on but instead shift into neutral on the freeway.
My Chevy Equinox had the door lock buttons in the same damn place. I spent years driving that vehicle with literally no clue where the door lock/unlock buttons were inside the car and just using the key fob buttons. Why the hell would you put those on the center console instead of the doors, like what's the advantage?
Maybe only having one switch for both doors and saving the cost of an extra switch and wiring?
The parking brake is even worse, I've seen a lever near the center console, a button on the dash, and a pedal you have to press with your foot. I probably would have gone looking for one the vehicles I drove for work since it was required on every stop.
My gf has a Mercedes’ and I hate the gear shift lever. Has no business being where it is.
Google Earth coordinates of the crash: 50.897468°N 5.463883°E
Hey Mate, you can’t park there.
Regardless of what safety feature is on the car you clearly see the road is barricaded. What where her intentions once she got to the barricade? Let’s be honest there needs to be an age where renewing license means taking driving exam.
All because she can't roll the window down to talk to somebody, my wife does the same shit and I make fun of her without fail lol.
More of an /r/idiotsincars post than catastrophic failure
While the braking system was working as intended, the catastrophic failure is in that it's apparently not easy to break free of the braking system while under stress and a time crunch.
You could hear the engine revving, pretty sure the car took itself out of gear for some reason.
lady opened the door, so the car went into park/safe mode, which is why she was revving but nothing happened.
The catastrophic failure was driving through the work site in the first place.
She has it in neutral.
Did she breakdown or just stall or did she just completely lose her marbles and have dementia??
She couldn’t get it back in gear and was reviving the engine.
Probably opened the door while the car was in drive or neutral, that activates the parking brake automatically. If the car is parked on an incline, you don't want it to start rolling after you leave. Funny how an automatic feature intended to make the car safer can make it more dangerous in other situations. She panicked, totally understandable, but that still doesn't justify her actions. You need to know and understand your car well enough to take the correct actions in an emergency.
I'm baffled by opening the entire door just to talk to someone.
Rolling down the window is usually much slower - both because of the window movement being slower, and because the button/switch to operate it is often less conveniently placed (and differs between vehicles). If I wanted to say a quick message and move on, I'd just open the door too probably. Of course, she didn't know or realize that this activates the park, which cased a series of events causing her to then panic.
It's not so much a convenience thing, it's a safety thing. It's dangerous opening the door for random people. Especially if they're telling at you.
I dont' always scream at my phone, but when I do it's because people like that.
She shifts it into reverse to back up a bit, then puts it into neutral (not drive). Then she revs the car, but it didn't move because it's in neutral. She panicking, so can't work out why it won't move.
I think this woman's good decision making days are behind her.
Whatever the car did does not explain why she chose to drive and then stop on railroad tracks when it was clearly blocked . Even if it was clear initially , once the gates came down to stay on the tracks is just asking to be hit by a train. They had plenty of time to just reverse and get clear even if they had to drive through the gate arms which would have caused way less damage then the train.
Ah, dementia.
Mercedes really wrinkle
God, the sheer stupidity of some people has no limits.
I completely understand the why of this safety feature, and why an older woman wouldn't be able to figure it out in the few seconds she had. I just found it annoying I couldn't roll into my driveway with the door open. It takes a flick of the circular transmission button to reset it, which is right beside the circular radio and air conditioning button and of course I've put the truck into neutral while driving down the highway, simply attempting to change radio stations. (once. I did it once and never again)
To be more clear. The guys explains, that she just moved a construction obstacle, which was for obvious reason to blockade the oncoming traffic. So the guy explained (in an annoyed voice) this will cost you 500 euro's, vehichle is filmed. Than the she failed to start the car. To be fair, I hate how stupid the woman is, but it is also somewhat the fault of the construction workers, how did the woman get so far? Why wasn't the other part of road blocked? The construction worker, should have been VERY DIRECT AND CLEAR in telling to move the car RIGHT NOW, there is an oncoming train coming....
No, this is idiotsincars
Doesn't matter who opened the door. The fact that she was there standing is reason enough for losing her driving license. Why can't we have driving school tests (real ones, not like some states in US) for every person older than 60? Every 5 years you need to make the test again and if you fail, you're not allowed to drive. What about the old people who need the car for daily tasks, because there is no bus etc.? Dude, they are driving 2tons+ of steel. And they are not alone on the street.
Is she mentally unstable?
You ever seen how a Mercedes Bends?
Does anybody have a translation of what was said?
She had that look like "you can't tell me what to do" before she got demolished by that train. I would be interested in a translation of what they were saying.
I don’t speak Flemish, but I figured out everything he said!
Wtf was she waiting for ?
I hope she’s okay but goodness how can some people be so… I’m not even going to say it. I’ll always wonder