Unfortunately, a Polish truck driver – who was transferring some metallic plates from Poland to Hungary – ignored the hysterically flashing red traffic lights which mean "the train is coming". To ignore these lights were the first, obvious lethal mistake of the driver. When the truck was already on the tracks, the level crossing barriers began to go down, an event that could have been predicted from the flashing traffic lights.
Now, the second mistake came. The truck driver could have simply broken the barriers. A truck like this is almost certainly strong enough to break those relatively thin barriers. He should have tried – he still had some time to act.
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Instead, the truck driver realized that a crash was coming so he wanted to save his life. The original reports said that he simply opened the door and escaped from the truck before the collision. However, the video from a camera showed something else.
He just moved his truck a meter or two forward so that his body was outside the cylinder that the train is supposed to occupy when it gets through. So after the collision, he could have stayed in the cabin and survived without problems. I think it's still believed that he didn't make any attempt to break the barriers.
Now, the second mistake came. The truck driver could have simply broken the barriers. A truck like this is almost certainly strong enough to break those relatively thin barriers. He should have tried – he still had some time to act.
-continued below-
He just moved his truck a meter or two forward so that his body was outside the cylinder that the train is supposed to occupy when it gets through. So after the collision, he could have stayed in the cabin and survived without problems. I think it's still believed that he didn't make any attempt to break the barriers.