Hey, there! Log in / Register
The college students are back; there's a U-Haul on the track
By adamg on Thu, 08/31/2017 - 6:16pm
Why, yes, the B Line is stuck this rush hour because the driver of a U-Haul van somehow managed to get it stuck on the tracks near the BU Bridge. Annie Whitehouse, who captured the moment for posterity, suggests:
U-Haul stuck on the tracks at the BU Bridge is the most Allston thing to ever happen.
At least since the last most Allston thing to ever happen, back in 2015.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Bad sign of things to come (or not)
Hard to tell what happened from the photo but that's the newly rebuilt I-90 Commonwealth Ave overpass. Next to the tracks they put a sharp, tall curb which seems like a questionable decision at best. It's not too easy to see since the road and tracks are both at the same grade.
While this van is likely driven by a clueless college kid, if they managed to get stuck within two weeks of the bridge reopening expect this to be a common occurrence at this intersection.
EDIT: It's possible the car broke down (mechanical failure) on the tracks and the driver did nothing wrong. From the photo they are legally in the lane.
What was the driver of the van crossing the tracks for?
That seems like a stupid thing to do. Maybe the tall, sharp curb was put there for a reason...so that people wouldn't make U-turns across those tracks at that point.
It's one thing if somebody's at an intersection where it's okay to make a left turn, and there's a special left turn lane, and a left-turn light signal that indicates when a left turn can be made, but what happened near the newly-rebuilt I-90 Commonwealth Ave. overpass is a whole other matter.
This is at an intersection.
This is at an intersection. The van looks to have been going straight through the intersection across Comm Ave heading from the BU Bridge to Brookline here.
That doesn't look like the intersection across Comm ave from the
BU Bridge to Brookline to me. The fact that there's a rather large BU building directly in front and across from the van indicates that was no intersection.
Click on Adam's link
The link is to the full Twitter picture which will show you that it is, indeed, the same intersection. Besides, I think you'd see a curb if the van had jumped one.
> What was the driver of the
> What was the driver of the van crossing the tracks for?
To get to the other side.
To get to the other side!
To get to the other side!
To get to the other side?
Seriously, many people are not used to crowded streets with streetcar tracks down the middle.
Hey!
Did he damage our Brand New tracks!!!!
Yet another dim witted driver
Yet another dim witted driver who is delaying hundreds. Arrest them for trespassing and take away their license.
Speaking from experience
As annoying as this can be, you gotta cut out-of-towners a break when it comes to doing clueless things in their cars. I've almost driven onto the tracks at Packards Corner and have ended up in places that no car belongs in other cities.
No excuse
There are these things called maps. Nobody in this part of the country seemed to know what they were before GPS changed things.
But GPS is often extremely wrong. So read a map! It won't kill you!
Never had a problem when I've done that and bothered to scan things ahead of time.
Never been to Packard's Corner?
A map won't help with a lot of Boston streets and intersections.
If you can't traverse Packard
If you can't traverse Packard's corner upon first time seeing it, you don't deserve to drive/need more driver training.
Oh really?
Heading outbound on Comm Ave, let's see, do I cross the trolley tracks or stay on this side, where do I go? OH WAIT I'LL LOOK AT A MAP.
I sort of disagree, Gary C.
Just because they're out oft owners doesn't give them the right to do stupid things in their cars, and unnecessarily screw it up for other people.
They aren't trespassing. They
They aren't trespassing. They're crossing the tracks at an intersection perfectly legally. It appears they just broke down or something in a really unfortunate place.
I'm glad we don't live somewhere that arrests you and revokes your driver's license for breaking down in an unfortunate location.
But I do wish
... that drivers had to show fitness to drive before renewing licenses and that people who kill with their vehicles and conveniently "don't notice" would go to jail.
It's a rental van. Might
It's a rental van. Might have to blame the Uhaul location for renting out vehicles that break down.
Push
I don't get why they didn't get out and try to push it out of the way.
Because...
...it's a moving van filled with books, most likely.
Transmission locked up?
Pushing doesn't work if it gets locked into park.
That's
That's fair. And the timing of it sucks.
While I would agree (assuming
While I would agree (assuming the transmission is not locked up), that I would put it to neutral and push the van back. I don't hold it against him. Pushing it back would push into to driving lanes, and no way I expect anyone to push it all the way to somewhere out of the way crossing all sorts of traffic and all that weight. And while I agree pushing to driving lanes is better than leaving it on the tracks. He getting flak in any scenario and probably don't want to take any initiative unless directed by the officer. It just sucks.
This shouldn't delay the
This shouldn't delay the trains for more than a few minutes, tops. You just need a few people to push the van out of the way while the driver steers it. I've done this before when I was walking down the street and saw someone break down. Another person came over to help and the two of us pushed the car out of traffic.
That patrol car looks none
That patrol car looks none too useful. Maybe instead of shelling out to equip cruisers with pusher bars we should equip green line trolleys with plows ?