"Oops! I appear to have turned onto an active railway. I must remedy this situation. Yes! I shall continue to drive completely onto the tracks and continue forward and just see what happens." 👍

Thinking it would have been faster and safer to pull the car back to the crossing and ramp it up from there. Less damage to the car, as well.

Everyone of those drivers need to have their license suspended and forced to go through driver training before they can reapply to drive.

I get the feeling that La Grange and Ashland are vying for an award for the most railroad track mishaps! 🚂 BOING!!

There are NO words!!!

i wish i owned a tow company in Ashland, I could retire in a year

As a tow truck driver that could have been done way different with out most of the damage

Tow truck driver probably did more damage to the car than the original incident by dragging it across the rails. I agree with others, this is not just impaired driving, it is poor signage, unreliable GPS, or ??? The Ashland City Council should hire an engineer to review all of the incidents.

You know theres no excuse for this especially after they turned off the street and noticed they were driving on stones! This is definitely someone that doesn't need to be on the roads. Good thing a train wasn't coming on either track.

Obviously this should’ve never happened in the 1st place, but here’s my question; why couldn’t they have just backed the car up to the crossing and gotten it onto the tow truck there? Seemed like this was way harder than it needed to be.

Rail level illuminated markers together with improved streetlight illumination and signage. The city needs to sort this once and for all.

Nice job by tow truck operator? I was once told by a professional tow operator that you should never cause any additional damage to a vehicle. All the damage to that vehicle appears to have happened at the hands of the tow truck operator. Having said that, it is possible that police told him to remove the car as quick as you can, don't worry about damaging the car. He should have said I will get it out as quickly as I can without wrecking it. I would have towed out the way it went in or since trains were stopped BACK IT OUT THE WAY IT CAME IN BY DRIVING IT.

Anyone notice the lady behind the barrier in her very historic traditional costume?

Driver to passenger: Gee Mabel, this road sure is rough! I think they need to repave it. 😂

You guys may have cars on the tracks, but I have a car in the Upper Niagara River Rapids in my neighborhood.

Ashland needs a truck with a grab on it, just pick up the car in the claws and take it straight to the crusher.

I've noticed from working next to that line that Amtrak horns are so shrill compared to the CSX trains. It's like my old roommate's two dogs, I can tell the difference between her male and female dog barking. ;-)

I still say old-fashioned swinging gates that close across the tracks would stop this altogether.

Why on earth didn’t they just back the car up??? Tow truck driver did this the hard way, plus they damaged the car!

Gotta love the tow truck driver for teaching them a good lesson on bad driving. The car wasn't damaged until the towman ripped it to shreds. Well done!

Looks like the railway companies need to provide additional barriers across the tracks here and elsewhere.

I'm beginning to wonder about the sanity of Ashland motorists. It's quite clear that there's a railway crossing which to most will mean that there is a 100% chance of railway track being right in front of you. You turn right then drop down onto the track ballast....well, there's a sign that you've just cocked up! Rather than stop immediately realising the error of your ways, no, you continue along the track maybe hoping that you can get out of this situation...But wait, all those pedestrian walkways across your railroads will mean you have absolutely zero chance of rectifying your mistake. Either people's Sat Nav are really s**t, or these drivers have no common sense. Maybe it's time that the crossing was lit up better to help protect the local motorists. The recovery company must absolutely love this crossing and they'll be enjoying another festive season with all these wonderful drivers in Ashland. Does make you wonder.......still, good for a bit of Railfan grab bag and a laugh!

It was nice to see a crowd show up to help again.

Drivers who drive on train tracks are crazy

A simple, bright yellow spring loaded bollard between the tracks would fix this a bit.

In the middle between the tracks, you could actually put a post with a warning sign. Here in Germany, the towing company would have to pay for the damage during recovery. I also don't understand why the car wasn't recovered from the level crossing, as usual.

How does someone NOT see that what they are driving on is not the road anymore but is the RR tracks?

Holy crap...I don't know what was worse, watching that idiot drive between the tracks or watching to tow truck operator try to winch the car onto the flatbed. Around the 3 minute mark I thought to myself, "this guy has no effing clue as to what he's doing" and then at 4:00 the bumper rips...lol. The driver should have their license revoked and the tow guy needs to find another job.

I disagree that the tow truck driver did an excellent job; I don't think he "needed" to haul the car across the rails, back to the crossing to pull the car out from there.

As a pilot I am now much more greatful for the large chain link fences around air ports. Aircraft landing at 80-90 mph and a Kia turns left onto active runway.

Nice job on getting the important parts on screen. Watching it live - it was engrossing to see all the minor adjustments the tow truck operator was doing to minimize the damage but still get the car off the tracks. It was almost an hour from on the tracks to cleared.

When the red and white gates come up and traffic can flow, perhaps other red and white gates should go down across the tracks.

Message to tow guy. Why not just back the car up and get it from the street instead of rail jumping it at a bad angle? From looking at lots of towing and wreak recovery videos most say the best way out is the way it went in.

When I drive past last night I noticed there is now a tow truck permanently in wait...not a bad idea! 😂

When the same mistake happens over and over in the same spot, the spot is flawed.

Love the holiday decorations. They add a festive touch to the scenario.

Fun fact, the crowd that came to help were all at an event at the Depot, all workers and owners of Red Vein haunted house. Great peeps!

As often as this happens you would think the tow trucks would have some sort of ramp to allow the wheels to come up and over the rails. Jesus man a 100 dollar tow just became a thousand bucks with body damage.

Missing detail: Amtrak was approaching for a station stop about the time the automobile stopped trying to back up. People urged the driver and two passengers to flee the vehicle, which they did, the driver a little reluctant. Then the popo arrive. It’s almost always a slow response time at Ashland, up to 10 minutes,

I pondered for quite awhile on what or how to respond and in the end just do not have words for this or any other driver dumb enough to drive a vehicle onto tracks. I honestly believe that HUGE signs posted to indicate which way to proceed would still not be enough

remember when the now closed pedestrian space was a street? well their GPS still thinks it is a street and tells them to turn right.

If a motorist did that here in Queensland Australia it would be about a $3000 fine although that was about 5 years ago so could even be more now.

As it's known in aviation "controlled flight into terrain".

I'm surprised the tow truck didn't back to the car between the tracks and get them out that way

Earlier on the Ashland page we were talking about this, the issue the tow truck driver is having is the car, as most cars today are too low to make it over the tracks. If there is no damage to the underside of that car, the driver is very lucky

I wonder which did more damage to the vehicle: the car's driver or the tow truck's driver.... Of course, the Amtrak locomotive could have easily topped them both!

I have a hard time understanding why this situation continues to occur in Ashland. This has happened several times. If this car had made that move about 10 minutes earlier the outcome could very well have been tragic. Q415 had just passed through town a few moments earlier. There is no way they could have stopped in time to avoid a collision. The city of Ashland as well as CSX need to get together and find a solution to stop this from happening before someone is killed. But then again there is only so much you can do about careless drivers.

Other than the tow bill i wonder if the city fines people for this

What a cars-on-the-tracks season

A BIG pole with flashing lights might work. Just a thought.

Happening far too often to be blamed on driver error. There is definitely some issue with lighting levels or signage or something! Can’t just keep blaming the drivers for this! The authorities must be waiting for a casualty or death to warrant changes!

Happy Holidays Let's ALL try to think "SAFE"

God bless America, Ashland and it's car drivers.....may you keep on delivering "exceptional" footage.......:-D maybe Jeremy Clarksons estimation of americans was not sooo wrong after all......:-)

I think the city of Ashland should paint the sides of the railroad tracks yellow, in order to make them more visible to drivers. (Called the "web" of the rails.) Paint alternating yellow stripes about 100' feet to each side of the actual grade crossing. That would help drivers see them better, especially in dark areas.

Virtual Railfan should make a playlists of all these videos of cars going onto the tracks in Ashland Va lol

Great show!!!!😄😄😄

Lol. More damage done by pulling it out than driving down the tracks. Yikes.

He should have made that Left turn in Alburquerque!!

🔰🇺🇸 - I just shake my head every single time with this Ashland clusterbang…I think they’re either old men or women who can’t process the situation. It’s sad.

You should do a compilation of all the times that cars went in the rails in Ashland, VA

worst tow job i ever seen in my life!! just BACK the car out the same way it got in there! id be suing that tow company!

Well used to be Ashland was the only place that happened. But this last week we see that Flagstaff AZ had a car that drove on the part between the two tracks. GPS told him it was a street. He had a hard time getting back on the next street. Thank goodness no trains were coming for awhile. Just put a ramp up to the street. On both sides just like Ashland should do.

Look how far she drove before she stopped she had have known right away and if she could back straight maybe she could have gotten out. If she live there she should have known better. It happens a lot there time for your mayor to put brighter lights up or something for these people

This happens way too much for it to be all be blamed on impaired driving. Once in a while it's funny, but week after week? If the town and rail company don't get together to do something about the inadequate illumination and lack of effective barriers at this crossing someone is going to be killed. It's a statistical certainty.

Ashland (with CSX) should pave gradual ramps between the tracks so that if a car turns the wrong way, they can simply back up and out of the right-of-way. Maybe make them 15 or so feet long. It doesn't even have to be GOOD paving, either; a macadam ramp would suffice. Just something to allow vehicles to simply back up. No fuss, no muss. As it is, it's only a matter of time before an incident like this occurs and a train is too close to stop successfully.

The dark tinted car windows don't help much. Going a little faster and hitting the dragging detector would of been a perfect 10👌 👍!!!

The driver was trying to answer the question we've all had, "Can I off-road in my Mazda 3?" I guess the answer is "yes", although it looks like it's not advised.

I really dont understand why they did not just back it up again and use some wooden support to get the car up the concrete where she came ? Or did she travel several kilometers before realizing the obvious fact?

I sure would hate to be take tow service's insurance company.

I just want to know how long did it take for the person to realize that they were in between the tracks? That should be a suspension for that....wow.

Can we get more of the ones with the funny music?

The tow truck companies must make the most money in Ashland, VA

They should install better lighting at all railroad crossings in Ashland along with fences between the tracks.

Some people shouldn't be driving!!!

These people should get a big ticket for this. Or give those tow company workers extra pay. This is ridiculous

Tow company has this down, must be one of their training requirements. We had someone turn onto the tracks(he went around the workers replacing the crossing) by my house. The tow company destroyed his little sports car by dragging it across the tracks.

There was so much light! How in the heck did they not see the tracks??

How often did this happen before we had GPS? We have become slaves to our GPS devices - it says turn right, we turn right even though those railroad crossing signs are there.

SMH My town needs to get it together

Horns were great! Soft and musical. Sigh about the cars on the tracks, it just seems to be mainly this crossing. I have never liked this crossing, it its Rt 54, it was or is still sideways. Always made me nervous. Ashland, maybe its time for a bridge for cars and pedestrians. Be a safe way to cross and to take photos of trains!

They need a railroad crossing for the railroad from the cars…😂😂

Must be something in the water in Ashland!

Boy that tow guy didn’t do that car any favors. What’s going on in that town?

King of the road………

People must remember “Operation Lifesaver”. Stop, look, and listen. Please people be careful and make wise choices.

Without tempting fate...how long will it be before somebody does this with a train coming (that has yet to set the gates down) that isn't able to stop in time? Only so many times that luck can dodge the bullet.

It astrounds and horrified me that the USA has so many level crossings.

One presumes there was alcohol involved? To quote a well known Wascally Wabbit, or an equally well known Ringnecked Woowoo, "Whatta maroon!"

ITS THE NEW HIGH RAIL

The overpopulation by utter nincompoops in the Ashland area is truly astonishing. No amount of lighting, signage or other deterrent will prevent consummate nincompoops from carrying out their missions in life.

This amazes me every single time that I see it. Why did the driver continue to drive forward. It just made things worse.🤣🤣

Looked like the car was either impounded or damaged to the point of not being drivable. Did the cops bust the driver for DUI?

If they would make a ramp of ballast between the tracks so cars could get back on the crossing it might help a lot.

Although drinking or drugs may have something to do with some of these cases, the real cause is that Ashland and the Railroad have created a clumsy arrangement. Has this always been going on and we only notice it because of the VR cameras? I imagine the tow companies must like the fees they get. Do the police ticket these people for trespassing or poor driving?

I hope the owner of this car and his/her insurance company finds out about this video to use as evidence in a damage claim against the tow company, the local police department, as well as the railroad. There doesn't appear to be any reason a competent (sober?) person could not have just backed the car the entire way to the crossing where it mistakenly began this situation. If the railroad had already been advised, which I suppose is almost automatic now that it has a virtual camera presence, then the extra time taken wouldn't have mattered.

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson: “D’oh!”

They must put a sign saying don't make a right turn

As a species, I fear we are in serious trouble...

There was a driver in Flaggstaff that did this very same thing a few days ago.

if car wasn't damaged driving on track. Certainly was after removed