Cyclist dies after being hit by train in Machida

Couldn't stop? More likely to be wouldn't stop. Time and time again I see people racing under the boom gates just to get across the tracks. It's 30 seconds out of your life people and that 30 seconds just cost this girl her life.

Couldn't / wouldn't slow down and it cost her her life. One hand on the handlebar possibly?

I don't understand why she didn't have enough time to get up and move. Usually you have about 10 secs before the train comes.

As far as the crossing guard, the one closest to you always comes down first so you don't get trapped in the middle. This is just strange...

Lots of guessing here. Yes, it IS possible that she didn't want to slow down, that she was reckless etc., but it's NOT what the article says. All we know is that "They believe the girl couldn’t slow down in time." The reasons? Many possible ones, but nothing that WE would know about. It's so easy to blame others when we have no idea about the situation.

Met a mother and two kids today speeding down the hill on their bicycles, all three were on the wrong side of the road. They came around a junction at the bottom without stopping and I had to take evasive action to miss them, moving out to the other side of the road where there were no cars coming so they could pass inside of me. Luckily them! Had they hit me, I'm sure it would have been my fault. I recorded it all on a drive camera, so would have had some defence, but would not place much faith in it.

Too many cyclists here are just not following the rules of the road, have zero awareness of what is around them, and endanger both themselves and others. Many drivers are at fault too, but not always.

@Zybster, true, lots of guessing due to lack of info other than what police "believe" may have happened.

Too bad that girl is gone. More attention by police about reckless bicycles would reduce deaths.

Tragic. There are other possible factors such as wet brakes, weak brakes, broken brake cable, flat front tires sliding sideways on the slippery rail. They probably didn't go into that level of detail checking the bike afterwards, especially as it was probably crushed. But in my biased minds eye I see her texting riding with one hand,

Wanderlust mentioned the dreaded "gyakusou" = riding on the wrong side of the street. How it could be stopped? Create a bicycle license and make every body take a test to renew it once every few years. You have to sign a promise: "I will never ride down the wrong side of the street". In Japan, that would work.