So I am not sure what you mean by "not well controlled."

to respond to signals which, I assume, were seen and heard. If not seen and heard, driver concentrating on vehicle it was following than on safety signals.

the freaking gates? You know, like they do in the movies?

But seriously, those puny little gates that come down at RR
crossings couldn't stop a large truck that was intent on barreling
through it. Unless, of course, the first truck in front of the one
that got hit had come to a stop, thus preventing the 2nd truck
from proceeding forward?

The whole incident is so sad and tragic. geesh. I really feel
for those poor families, that were just trying to have a nice
little celebration for Vets.

when the warning bells and signals were activated, 20 seconds before the accident.'

but it doesn't say whether the 1st truck just stopped then deadin it's tracks or not.
If it hadn't stopped, then my question stands.

Read about this tragedy this morning in the New York Times.

Reminded me of seeing a Norfolk Southern mainline freight (probably also in the 7,200 foot long range - the length of this TX tragedy train) coming through a rural crossing a few weeks ago. She was doin' 65 easy.

Three family members in our car simultaneously commented on how there'd be no way for our Chevy Tahoe (with a powerful 350 V8 / my thought) to get out of the way of that train if we were merely entering the tracks. So there's not much way a flat bed truck could get out of the way, with another parade flat bed potentially penning it in in front. May have been a true death-trap.

NYTimes said the RR crossing gates were closing on people seated on the flat bed that was hit. One veteran pushed his wife off of the flat bed before the train hit it, saving her life.

I can't imagine what the folks of Midland are going through now. And I don't want to know the pain that was going on in the cab of the locomotive when the train's crew saw that flat bed up ahead...certain that they'd hit it.

All tragic.

If the gates stopped the truck it wouldn't have been on a railroad tracks to begin with.

i guess I was thinking of the gate on far side of tracks,
not the one before tracks. I dunno really. It's just a
very sad incident, I think it's what's called a "freak
accident".

it could end up stripping a bunch of people off the float, depositing them more or less right on the tracks, so that would have maybe been worse.

Hard to say. Sounds grisly, but I wish there was video, so that others can learn from this apparent mistake. All signs point to human error on the part of the driver of the truck, at the moment.

They also were in the process of obtaining video taken by a witness in the crowd and confiscated by local police. The Safety Board released a timeline based on preliminary analysis:

That is just dangerous. Surely they could slow them down to a reasonable speed in town.

waiting for slow-moving trains and try to get around them so the trains move faster (with gates and lights), and people bitch about that too. It's really, really not the railroad's fault. It's the fault of people who do not respect rail crossings.

at 60mph. Even police have to break off high speed chases in populated areas.

High speed chases use the same roads we do--speed is dangerous there. Trains are pretty predictable as to where they run--as long as you stay off the rails, or stop-look-listen when you cross tracks, you will never collide with a train, fast or slow.

time, the lead parade float's trailer crossed the southern edge of the track's rail and made it through. Thirteen seconds before impact, the crossing arms began to come down. One second later, the trailer carrying the veterans began crossing the track, its front tires rolling over the northern edge of the rail. Three seconds later, the train engineer blasted his horn, stretching out the blare for four seconds ..."

Midland train crash: Float crossed as warnings sounded, NTSB says
November 17, 2012, 9:05 p.m.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-midland-train-crash-warnings-20121117,0,1589904.story

I can't find anything about the driver.