Sadly, its not nonsense.
Remember, to some people all that stopping at Level Crossing Barriers is a 'Nonsense', after all most of the time it takes minutes for the train to arrive... most of the time.
If that bag _had_ been a 'live one' his fellow shopkeepers would have no doubt thanked him for removing most of the front of their shops and the people whose job it is would have thoroughly enjoyed scraping him off the architecture and dealing with his family. Just as railwaymen enjoy the aftermath of a train that did arrive at the crossing as scheduled.
Its a balancing act at crossings, trains _could_ be halted short of them and then cross at walking pace or people _could_ be allowed to take their chances without warnings or barriers. Society, including the railways, has made a judgement on the best way to minimise the risk to road and rail users without disrupting either to extreme levels.
With IEDs its a balancing act, disruption to ordinary life again loss of life. Both achieve the bad guys ends in one way or another.
BTW, if you do spot a potential device, please don't do bright stuff like moving it, especially into a bin or bucket of water. Not only is it quite possible you will set it off if it is a real device, it also makes it difficult to access for the people who have to investigate it. And a difficult to access 'False Alarm' may require a controlled explosion to 'investigate' where, left where it was, less disruptive means could have been used.