http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24133940/detail.html

 Yes, I agree, They should have known better!

BUT, this now gives them a reason to file a lawsuit against the railroad......

That won’t work here. Witnesses said they saw the couple drive around the gates. There was a follow up story on this last night, the driver was 62.

"Why would anyone risk crossing with the gates down?"

Because the only reason some people exist, is to serve as a warning to others.

As is usually the case, the root cause of this, and most other problems, is a simple one.  People are stupid.

Oh Lord, this happened in Covington...this collision will be what 9/11 was to the US. For those of you who don't know, Covington is a town 30 miles east of Atlanta where most of the people attend funerals three times a week...even for folks they didn't even know. Yeah, it's one of those type of places.

You're right sheila, they will probably try to sue the railroad even though they illegally crossed the gates to beat a train. These days, it is always someone else at fault so they will probably try to blame the railroad for leaving enough space for them to drive around the gates or some other stupid reason why it shouldn't be their fault even though they crossed the gates that were down. I really don't see the logic of racing a train when you will probably only spend a few minutes waiting for the train to cross. It isn't worth the time you save if you end up losing the race with the train!