This story has been incorrectly reported. The vehicle was struck by one train, not two.

Here is the article from SF Gate that shows a police officer dragging a person from the car, and the vehicle being hit by the train. Web Link

It's a shame that mass media in 2015 still has such terrible accuracy.

Can someone tell me why a car was stopped on an active train track? I understand that a police officer pulled the driver out of the car. Was the driver trying to commit suicide?

Rumor has it that the driver was drunk. If you want the video, you can see that the car had turned onto the tracks.

This has happened before also with people who follow incorrect driving instructions from a GPS navigation device.

Inaccurate reporting, AND the most interesting part of the story was left out. Man this publication is a rag.

Living in Palo Alto, I cross the tracks a lot and in my opinion the Mary and Castro crossings are the worst. They both could easily cause confusion by someone depending on a GPS, particularly in the dark.

I am not saying that this event was caused by either GPS and the dark, obviously, but when cars are hit by train it seems to me that it is always someone who doesn't live in the area. Confusion could be a major factor.

Mercury-News reports that the driver was a man in his 20s who appeared to be DUI. 6:30pm is still bright sunlight. Lucky that a DUI driver didn't kill anyone. Web Link