He made the right call, legally speaking.
Choice A: Actively destroy government property (crossing arm) Choice B: Abandon vehicle.
Believe it or not, one can argue fleeing the vehicle in fear for life will leave the driver in a better legal standing than if he made the active choice to destroy government property.
Choice A means the driver destroyed something actively.
Fleeing a vehicle in fear for safety, even though it could damage the train, is, legally, the "right" thing to do here.
One may try to argue that driving backwards to avoid the train in fear of life would work just as well, but that choice implies the driver had the wherewithall to assess the situation logically, and make the reasoned choice to destroy government property while also preserving the train and semi truck. In such a case, the claim of "fleeing for fear of life" would be less tenable.
Because the western legal system .
Crossing arms are meant to break away for just that reason, and they're not government property. They're owned and maintained by the railroad. The crossing, rails, lights, gantry, grade - those are all railroad maintained and owned items. Authorities will generally pave the grades, but the railroad has authority over it.
Instead of a consumable device that probably wouldn't have netted him anything more than an angry letter from the railroad, he now has a destroyed truck and probably totalled trailer (with cargo damage,) potentially damaged locomotive, potentially damaged rails and crossing grade, the arm and it's connection points and possibly electrical systems for the arm, and probably will never drive a truck again. The train was in full emergency reverse brake, and the stoppage and strike probably means that the NTSB will at least have an investigator look at it. He ran the risk of derailing the train and all of it's cargo, which Is Not Good.
You're right in that he may not have been able to logically think clearly about just backing the truck up, he was probably locked in flight mode with the train barreling down on him.
Meh, pop a $500 metal and plastic composite barrier arm and continue on with your day - completely write off $60-$100 000 Cab and be out of work. Lack of common sense and situational awareness Trucking dude probably got vaxxed.
Sure looks like the barrier got destroyed anyway.
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