Well it's sad. The Bartzokis Study is confirmed again -- that is the study that got so much attention a few years back, showing that the brain only starts to create significant myelin -- the white matter that makes the various gray matter brain parts really work together (layman's version here) leading to the ability to forsee consequences and have good judgment -- during the teen years. The brain is still not doing a good job of forming myelin during the teen years -- that really awaits the later 20s and 30s and finally is done around age 50. So just about the time you have the ability to exercise good judgment, you have fewer and fewer opportunities to need it!
This is why, bluntly stated, so many things that teens do, and college kids do on spring break, seem (actually, are) so stupid. And this is why there is so much money to be made from "Jacka**" tv shows and Girls Gone Wild DVDs and, yes, being a divorce lawyer ....
How we explain middle aged married Congressman and younger women was not explained by Dr Bartzokis, unfortunately.
A decent summary of the study is here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20060208-9999-lz1c08myelin.html
Dave Nelson
Very sad. A quote from a mother.
The victims were a 14-year-old girl and four young men: an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old from Taylor, a 19-year-old from Woodhaven, and a 21-year-old from Stafford, Va., according to police.Police were withholding names, but Tammy Sadler said her 14-year-old daughter, Jessica Sadler, was among those killed. Tammy Sadler was at her parents' Canton Township home - less than a mile from the accident site - Thursday night, where her family has been staying while moving from Taylor to Wyandotte.Sadler, 45, told the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News that she had told her daughter to hurry home instead of going to the beach with her boyfriend."I told her she was going to be in trouble," Sadler said, sobbing. "She asked me if she could go to the beach and I told her no, she had to come home ... I feel I'm to blame."
Be assured.
Some lawyer will convince a jury that the gates weren't down. The testimony of the engine crew will be thown out because it will be assumed they are lying. It's Anoka all over again.
And the insurance company will take notice and increase its premiums. It has no other realistic choice.
RudyRockvilleMD Many states restrict the number of teens that can drive with other teen age drivers in one car, family members not included. Didn't the driver learn about the danger of driving around lowered crossing gates?
Many states restrict the number of teens that can drive with other teen age drivers in one car, family members not included. Didn't the driver learn about the danger of driving around lowered crossing gates?
Wisconsin has a law where there are only 1 or 2 under 18 people can be in the car. Under 18 drivers can only drive at certain times of the night (unless they are coming from somewhere like work, school function, something legit i guess)
As for the driver that went around the gate, I guess he learned once. Sad and a very avoidable tragedy.
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Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Current reports from the local media indicate the Amtrak train was traveling 60 to 70 mph; within its limits for the area. The car appears to be a Ford Focus. Can't imagine what the families and crew are going through right now...
Ross R.
Images from the scene showed that the locomotive hit the car pretty much dead center, collapsing the car width-wise. The car stayed on the coupler.
We may never know why they did what they did.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Once again, folks, an incident that proves the point....STUPID DOES AS STUPID IS.
Whether they were texting and/or had the radio blairing is really inmaterial. It's the fact the driver drove around a lowered crossing gate that's very disturbing.
The Detroit Free Press headline suggests the teens were trying to beat the train.
Other news sources in the area simply state that they were hit by the train. Extricating them from the wreckage of the car is apparently a challenge.
Police: 5 die when train hits vehicle in Michigan
Just after noon today, five teenagers were killed after they drove around a lowered crossing gate and were hit by an Amtrak train in Canton Township, a suburb of Detroit. Amtrak train 353 was headed from Detroit to Chicago and dragged the car 150 feet down the track. This is why I've told my 16-year-old that he will not drive in a car full of other teenagers. I don't know any details so I can't presume, but it sure seems possible they were busy texting and had the radio blaring and weren't paying any attention. Very tragic for all involved...
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