The train driver's emergency braking saved the lives of all the passengers. Was it because of 5 seconds of muscle memory?

On the morning of June 4, D2809 train was hit by a sudden mudslide that invaded the railway line at the entrance of Yuezhai Tunnel before entering Rongjiang Station on the Guiyang-Guangzhou Line. Cars 7 and 8 of the train derailed, resulting in one death and eight injuries. The only person who died was the on-duty driver of the train, Yang Yong.

At the critical moment of life and death, Yang Yong accurately judged the danger and took emergency braking measures in time, saving the lives of the people in the car with his perseverance and sacrifice. His heroic behavior moved people and was widely praised and remembered by the public.

When reporting this incident, some media used a rare word, "muscle memory", and said that relevant professionals analyzed that the reason why Yang Yong took emergency braking at the first moment was because he trained hard in his daily life, making emergency braking a "muscle memory", and it was "muscle memory" that came into play in the moment of crisis.

Is this the case? Let's analyze it together.

First, let's understand what "muscle memory" is. The so-called muscle memory means that in addition to the brain, muscles also have a memory effect. That is, after repeated training of a certain action, the muscles will form a conditioned reflex, or a kind of instinct. This kind of memory does not need to be directed by the brain. Once formed, it will suddenly occur automatically when encountering a certain situation.

Muscle memory is acquired very slowly and needs long-term training to gradually form. But once it is formed, it is difficult to forget or lose. Sometimes, after many years, if you haven't encountered something that uses muscle memory, once a situation that needs to be dealt with occurs, it will be stimulated. It can also be quickly restored through a very short training.

In our lives, there are many examples of "muscle memory", such as playing the piano, playing various musical instruments, playing sports events such as table tennis, grappling, dodging attacks, etc., all of which have "muscle memory", or it can be said to be the shadow of instinct. These instincts are all in a flash, and there is no time to think.

When playing table tennis, you don't have time to think about the opponent's quickly changing ball, and the hand holding the racket will naturally meet it; when playing the piano, you don't have time to think about which finger presses which key; if something suddenly flies towards you, your body will naturally react to avoid it, and you don't have time to think about it.

When learning to ride a bicycle, in order to maintain the center of gravity, the body must be in the same direction as the bicycle's tilt, so that the moving bicycle can maintain balance. But before learning, even though I knew it was like this, my body would always tilt in the opposite direction, and the bicycle would fall faster. After learning, I can automatically maintain balance without thinking.

The same is true when driving a car. The steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes need to be coordinated. When you are first learning, you have to use your brain to control your hands and feet. You have to think about when to turn and when to brake. You always can't keep up. Sometimes you even get it wrong and mistake the accelerator for the brake. Many accidents happen this way.

To solve this problem, you need more training and more driving. Once you become proficient, the car will be like one with your hands and feet. You no longer need to use your brain to command it. When you need to step on the accelerator, brake, or steer, it will automatically execute. This is muscle memory.

Not only muscles, but also vision, hearing, smell, and touch can produce conditioned reflexes, which work together with muscle memory to deal with emergencies. This is called "cooperative memory." The so-called practice makes perfect and instinctive reaction refers to this situation. Therefore, my understanding is that muscle memory or cooperative memory is talking about quick reaction, which should generally not exceed 1 second. If it exceeds this range, it can no longer be called muscle memory or cooperative memory, but the result of brain command.

Therefore, I think the term "five-second muscle memory" is questionable. Some media reports refer to Yang Yong's emergency braking action at the critical moment as "five-second muscle memory", which I think is inaccurate. Even if Yang Yong immediately took the emergency brake upon discovering the situation, it was something that happened in a split second, and it did not take five seconds at all.

If it takes five seconds, it is no longer "muscle memory" but a rational act of the brain thinking about whether to act or not. The report on the D2809 train accident said that when the train was driving in the Yuezhai Tunnel, it was found that the line was abnormal. The on-duty driver took emergency braking measures within 5 seconds and the train slid for more than 900 meters. The overall protective effect of the high-speed railway crash barrier and track structure prevented the train from overturning and falling.

According to this statement, my understanding is that the on-duty driver Yang Yong found the line abnormal, and after 5 seconds of intense thinking, he decided to take emergency braking measures, so this was a rational behavior and should not be attributed to "muscle memory". The braking operation he took was formed by "muscle memory" due to long-term training, and he completed it instinctively without the need for brain command.

But this muscle memory cannot be linked to "five seconds", otherwise the characteristics of "muscle memory" will be blurred.

The train applied emergency brakes within 5 seconds and slid 900 meters after emergency brakes. How much time passed during this period? I did not find the speed of the train when the accident happened, but I can estimate the speed at that time based on the fact that the train slid 900 meters after emergency brakes.

According to relevant information, when the train speed is 120 kilometers per hour, the emergency braking limit is 800 meters; when the speed is 140 kilometers per hour, the emergency braking limit is 1100 meters; when the speed is 160 kilometers per hour, the emergency braking limit is 1400 meters; when the speed is 200 kilometers per hour, the emergency braking limit is 2000 meters; when the speed is 250 kilometers per hour, the emergency braking limit is 3200 meters.

According to the above-mentioned sliding distance after emergency braking, we can know that D2809 was about to enter the station at a relatively slow speed, about 130 kilometers per hour. Yang Yong took 5 seconds to take emergency braking measures, and then slid 900 meters. In other words, from the time Yang Yong discovered the "line abnormality" to the time he took emergency braking measures, the train traveled 180 meters in these 5 seconds, plus the 900 meters of sliding, the train traveled 1,080 meters.

The time required to slide 900 meters is 50 seconds, if we calculate it based on the average speed being reduced by half after braking. If the average speed is slower, it will take longer. In other words, the time between Yang Yong's discovery of the situation and his death was at least 55 seconds, or almost 1 minute.

During this one minute, he could have easily evaded backwards to save his life, and even after taking emergency braking measures, he still had 50 seconds to escape.

But he did not escape, he stayed at his post and tried to stop the car. In the end, he died in the line of duty, using his life to save the safety of all the people on the bus. Therefore, I want to correct the media's reporting bias. This is not muscle memory, nor is it the "five seconds before the hero's death", but a minute of facing, thinking and choosing, which is why it is even more precious, respectable, and moving.

Of course, there is another theory that the train was traveling at 250 kilometers per hour (see the screenshot above). If so, it would not have stopped after 900 meters. It hit the mudslide and slid for another 900 meters before hitting the platform and stopping. In this way, the exact time of Yang Yong's death cannot be determined. But in any case, this kind of sacrifice cannot be explained by a simple "muscle memory".

Here I would like to end this article with the words of a train driver like Yang Yong: He has done everything he can. I feel sad and proud of Yang Yong's sacrifice. In this situation, I believe that no driver would brake and run to the back car, because you don't know what will happen in front. The driver will usually wait for the train to stop. If he really wants to get off, he will wait until all passengers get off.

Thank you to these dedicated people who stick to their posts. It is because of these people that society can be safer and more harmonious. I hope that you and I can be proud of such people and become such people. Thank you for reading and welcome to discuss.

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