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Wierd Crossing Accident

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Wierd Crossing Accident
Posted by greyhounds on Thursday, April 14, 2005 8:31 PM
I'm sorry she's gone, and her husband must be devistated - but I've never heard of one like this. She smashed through the lowered crossing gates while talking on a cell phone.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-train14.html

I'm glad there was no "conductor" error. He/she might have incorrectly punched a ticket and contributed to the accident. Glad he/she didn't. I hate the media.
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by chad thomas on Thursday, April 14, 2005 8:44 PM
The article should read "School teacher killed by CELL PHONE !!!"
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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, April 14, 2005 8:50 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

The article should read "School teacher killed by CELL PHONE !!!"

Amen to that.

I did find it curious that when I viewed the linked page the ad at the top was for Amtrak....

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Posted by pat390 on Thursday, April 14, 2005 8:55 PM
As bad as the accident was, it was her fault she wasnt paying any attention
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Posted by fuzzybroken on Friday, April 15, 2005 1:06 AM
Not all that weird, it's just that people need to pay attention to DRIVING!!!!!!![soapbox] Cell phone or otherwise, drivers are just too distracted by anything and everything and can be a real danger to themselves and others.

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Posted by rvos1979 on Friday, April 15, 2005 1:56 AM
Does this qualify as a Darwin Award?

Just another reason to start installing barrier gates.........[sigh]

Randy

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Posted by spbed on Friday, April 15, 2005 6:18 AM
Well I guess in her case she ptoved she could not do 2 seperate things at the same time. [:p]

Originally posted by greyhounds

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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Posted by DPD1 on Friday, April 15, 2005 11:08 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by pat390

As bad as the accident was, it was her fault she wasnt paying any attention


Don't tell the groups against cellphones that... This will be another example they will use in the pu***o make it illegal to talk and drive at the same time, in as many cities as possible. A few people can't do two things at once, so everybody else has to suffer. It's unfortunate our legal system always has to use the worse case scenarios as it's benchmark.

Dave

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 15, 2005 11:33 AM
I find it especially interesting that they say it was a Rock Island train that hit her! I guess all those stories about The Rock going bankrupt in 1980 are just a conspiracy. The truth is out now!

I also got an ad for The New Amtrak.com at the top of the page. Rather ironic.
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 15, 2005 11:49 AM
I came across a study done by the police awhile back that stated: A person driving and talking on a celphone has the same attention problems that a legaly drunk person has. If you drink, or use celphones while driving,,,,stay off the road!!!!!
I feel the same way about someone that tells me they can talk on the phone safely while driving, as I do someone who says they can drink and drive safely.
I don't do either.. If I drink, I get a cab. If I talk on the celphone, I pull over and stop.
I'm a tugboat captain and I don't drive the tug and talk on the phone either.
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Posted by greyhounds on Friday, April 15, 2005 11:50 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Sask_Tinplater

I find it especially interesting that they say it was a Rock Island train that hit her! I guess all those stories about The Rock going bankrupt in 1980 are just a conspiracy. The truth is out now!

I also got an ad for The New Amtrak.com at the top of the page. Rather ironic.


It's official name is the "Rock Island District" of Metra. It operates on the former Rock Island tracks.

Metra is the Chicago area commuter rail authority.
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by heavyd on Friday, April 15, 2005 12:59 PM
The story says her husban was there imediately and that he was just on the other side of the tracks waiting for her. Didn't he hear the train coming? He could have warned her! Then again, the general public are totally oblivious to trains, the train could have been blowing it's horn the entire time and neither of them knew any better, pity.
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Posted by SALfan on Friday, April 15, 2005 3:33 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by DPD1

QUOTE: Originally posted by pat390

As bad as the accident was, it was her fault she wasnt paying any attention


Don't tell the groups against cellphones that... This will be another example they will use in the pu***o make it illegal to talk and drive at the same time, in as many cities as possible. A few people can't do two things at once, so everybody else has to suffer. It's unfortunate our legal system always has to use the worse case scenarios as it's benchmark.

Dave

-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/


It's WAY, WAY more than a few. In my experience almost every time some knucklehead wanders into my lane at 70 miles an hour, or runs a stop light, or runs into me on a subway platform, they are on a cellphone either yapping about something inconsequential or trying to impress everyone around with their importance. Let me guess, you are one of those people who think you can drive 80 mph while the rest of the traffic is doing 50 mph.
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Posted by tree68 on Friday, April 15, 2005 3:41 PM
Having been nearly hit by a driver on a cell phone - I offer the following account, published, IIRC, in a public safety periodical:

Woman was involved in an collision (I'd call it an accident, but it appears to have been anything but). Nothing too serious, minor injuries. When responders went to her vehicle to check on her condition they had to tap on the window to get her attention, as she was talking on the cell phone. She waved them off, too busy to be bothered, despite the fact that she had probably just caused the collision. IIRC, she did the same thing to the cop...

The husband in question probably didn't see the train either - remember, he was on the cell phone, too.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by coborn35 on Friday, April 15, 2005 4:08 PM
ok guys, instead of just saying "cell phone bad bad her fault" (which i do agree), we should be saying how horrible it must have been for her husband to have watched her die like that. I for one, want to say that i give the family best wishes and codolences.

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Posted by Junctionfan on Friday, April 15, 2005 4:42 PM
In Ontario, a law was passed banning hand-held cell phone use while operating a moter vehicle. You would believe how many car vs car or other moter vehicle collisions were a result of cell phone use; it's no surprise that this could happen to. In fact I think I may have heard of a few train car collisions similar to this one in Ontario and Quebec. One I believe involved the VIA Canadian near Barrie Ontario and a woman and her children, another happened near the boarder of Ontario on the Quebec side involving a CN intermodal and a mini van. Can't remember the details though, it just seems to be a common occurance in my mind. There must be similar incidents in the U.S too unfortunately as I don't think this was the first.
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Posted by mudchicken on Friday, April 15, 2005 5:03 PM
I'll call your "wierd" and raise you one:

Within the last month in Denver, we had a car broadside a stopped train at a well lit crossing (crossbucks, no signals), striking a hopper car with 1 week old extra visibility scotchlite relective tape just applied by the shop. Fatality.

The train had just set out two lumber loads and was pumping up the air.
Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Randy Stahl on Friday, April 15, 2005 5:07 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

I'll call your "wierd" and raise you one:

Within the last month in Denver, we had a car broadside a stopped train at a well lit crossing (crossbucks, no signals), striking a hopper car with 1 week old extra visibility scotchlite relective tape just applied by the shop. Fatality.

The train had just set out two lumber loads and was pumping up the air.
Looks like the feds got that reg right, kinda like the privacy locks on the toilet doors, maybe not a bad idea but the absence of one is a non complying condition.
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Posted by emd_SD_60 on Friday, April 15, 2005 5:36 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by pat390

As bad as the accident was, it was her fault she wasnt paying any attention


Yet another casualty of dumb-***.[:(!]
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Posted by espeefoamer on Friday, April 15, 2005 5:48 PM
Another reason all 50 states should ban talking on cell phones while driving.Another Darwin Award candidate[xx(]!
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Posted by ValleyX on Friday, April 15, 2005 7:58 PM
Let's ban eating in cars, let's ban playing CD's, let's definitely ban the DVD players, let's ban radios, let's ban conversation with other passengers, let's ban making oneself's up with make-up, shaving, etc. A woman ran off I-69 in Indiana a couple of days ago because she turned around and looked in the back when something attracted her attention on the DVD player, the result is that her parents are dead, a cousin is in critical condition. I knew a man who was killed because reading his mail was more important than paying attention to his driving. Driving is serious business but people sure don't treat it like that.
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 15, 2005 10:12 PM
Does anyone suspect anything strange about the way we embrace new technology? Don't we have a right to keep hazardous technology out of our personal lives without being disenfranchised? Not that the cell phone is hazardous, but driving a car is, with or without a cell phone. If cell phones and cars are vital for maintaining a marriage and raising children then I'm glad that I'm still single and childless.
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Posted by canazar on Saturday, April 16, 2005 2:59 AM
Ok, someone explain to me why its the cell phones fault?

I dont think the use of cell phones, or other mean of possibly distracted should be pointed as cause of the accident. Simply put, she just wasnt paying attention. The more you do, the more responsibilty you use. . Been drivng for years with a phone, never had a problem. To me no different than talking to someone in the seat next to me......

Sorry, maybe I have a bit of different beat to my drum, but everyone is rushing to blame the phone. Oh, she/he was a good person, cant be her/his fault! How about, she/he was just an air head, or maybe just didnt pay attention. Sorry, but if your driving, should be a little more alert. What if maybe she was changeing the station on the radio, and (talking on the phone) and wasnt even looking ahead becuase she was to busy trying get the right number and was starign at the radio? And thats why she drove through a gate becuase she didnt see SEE A TRAIN GATE WITH LIGHTS in front of her!

Dont know about any of you but I still remember what they taught me in driving school. All ways be prepared, always expect the unexpected. Be on the defensive... That applies not to just driving, but to everything.

"Oh, I fell on the wet floor, I am suieng...
What dint see the big stupid yellow triangle?

"Oh I bruned myself on hot coffe I am sueing...
"Oh yeah, sorry, didnt ya know serving coffe hot is a new thing, Been doing that for like couple hundred years now"

Dont get me wrong, I feel extremly bad for the family.... MY God, I couldnt even imagine watching your wife, probably of 10-20 years, get taken away from you like that. Beyond my scope. But still, I kinda get sick of people blameing there mistakes on other things or actions besides themselves.
I dont like haveing my choices taken away becuase some one else couldnt handle it. The more rules we have, the more complicant we become, the less we think, the more stuff will happen, then we get more rules, then we think less, then more will happen, ... you get the idea.

Ok, I am off the [soapbox]

Best Regards, Big John

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Posted by chad thomas on Saturday, April 16, 2005 11:24 AM
I don't know why, but some (or most) people just can't handle driving and talking on the cell phone. I see it every day. They sit there yapping away stopped at a green light untill horns start honking. They drift out of there lanes on the freeway, or suddenly realise they are in the wrong lane at a diverging and zip across multiple lanes at the lat minuet. They even blow through stopsigns and red lights totaly oblivious.

I don't get it myself. I have been driving and using the phone for years (and the 2-way radio before that). I've never had a problem. Of course when I need to I pull over. I seem to be the exception though. I might also add that when driving my calls are short and to the point. The same people that seem to have the problems are the ones that are constantly on the phone with no real purpose. I know because I can't help hearing what they are talking about when there next to me in traffic.

And by the way, it is illegal to talk on the cell while driving in Califormia unless it's hands free. But if you ask ten people about it, 9 of them are clueless.
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Posted by eolafan on Saturday, April 16, 2005 12:10 PM
One lesson to be learned by this story is that a high degree of eduction is no guarantee of having the same high degree of common sense.
Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by Junctionfan on Saturday, April 16, 2005 12:22 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by canazar

Ok, someone explain to me why its the cell phones fault?

I dont think the use of cell phones, or other mean of possibly distracted should be pointed as cause of the accident. Simply put, she just wasnt paying attention. The more you do, the more responsibilty you use. . Been drivng for years with a phone, never had a problem. To me no different than talking to someone in the seat next to me......

Sorry, maybe I have a bit of different beat to my drum, but everyone is rushing to blame the phone. Oh, she/he was a good person, cant be her/his fault! How about, she/he was just an air head, or maybe just didnt pay attention. Sorry, but if your driving, should be a little more alert. What if maybe she was changeing the station on the radio, and (talking on the phone) and wasnt even looking ahead becuase she was to busy trying get the right number and was starign at the radio? And thats why she drove through a gate becuase she didnt see SEE A TRAIN GATE WITH LIGHTS in front of her!

Dont know about any of you but I still remember what they taught me in driving school. All ways be prepared, always expect the unexpected. Be on the defensive... That applies not to just driving, but to everything.

"Oh, I fell on the wet floor, I am suieng...
What dint see the big stupid yellow triangle?

"Oh I bruned myself on hot coffe I am sueing...
"Oh yeah, sorry, didnt ya know serving coffe hot is a new thing, Been doing that for like couple hundred years now"

Dont get me wrong, I feel extremly bad for the family.... MY God, I couldnt even imagine watching your wife, probably of 10-20 years, get taken away from you like that. Beyond my scope. But still, I kinda get sick of people blameing there mistakes on other things or actions besides themselves.
I dont like haveing my choices taken away becuase some one else couldnt handle it. The more rules we have, the more complicant we become, the less we think, the more stuff will happen, then we get more rules, then we think less, then more will happen, ... you get the idea.

Ok, I am off the [soapbox]


It is the simple fact that alot of people can not multi-task simple things never mind drive and get mentally involved in a conversation on the phone. Talking in the car is different. In the car, the driver is right there and senses that the person is there so is less likely to focus on the person and keep the eyes on the road and listen for other dangers. A phone decreases awareness on the road because the driver is now focused on the voice in the phone. Often the connection or at least the loudness is unclear and requires the driver to focus hard on what the person is saying on the other side and for some illogical reason, people on the phone tend to want to look in to the reciever or some other direction as if the other person can see them (proper face to face conversation). Even I who professes to be logical, does this. It is a normal human reaction.

To make things worse, cell phone decrease the focus on the road because now a hand is doing something else other than aiding the driving operation. So the person is now doing 4 things; operating the moter vehicle, holding the phone, watching the phone and the road, and talking and focusing on listening on the distracting phone.

Now some jobs incorporate certain aspects of communications in the moter vehicle. However, thease are radios and are often loud enough that it isn't necessary to focus on what is being said as it is loud and clear. Also, radio calls are short and do not carry on in a complex conversation but rather short and simple instructions.
Andrew

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