Another crossing fatality

It's hard to believe her sons both survived. It' also hard to believe individuals still try and beat a train by going around cross arms?????

Larry

This says it all:

"Gates were down and functioning properly at the railroad crossing, according to witnesses. Tristan Hicks Williams, 26, drove her minivan around them anyway."

Rusty

If the driver would have survived, the following tickets:

1.  Failure to stop for red light.

2.  Lane change in intersection.

3.  Failure to give right of way.

4.  crossing double line.

Also, METRO could cicially sue......

Dom, you left out one. Failure to have working brain!

And the railroad is METRA!

Add 5:  Child endangerment!

I wonder if she was trying to do a murder/suicide, and and her sons got lucky.

Stuart

The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen & stupidity.

Just read in today's Chicago Sun Times, Amtrak finally got one of their rattle trap trains up to 111 MPH down near Dwight. The Governor and other assorted political odd balls were also aboard for what was hailed as the starting point for hi-speed rail travel in Illinois. 

The governor and a fellow seat passenger said the ride was quite bumpy at speed, and this is running on new rail and concrete ties. The reporter stated that several of the grade crossings on this particular stretch of track were double gated on each side and the engineer was told to blow his horn much earlier. (Her words, not mine.)

What makes anybody think a flimsy wooden gate board is going to stop someone (in a big hurry) from driving right thru it? You'd need a version of the Great Wall of China to prevent someone trying to cross against the warning lights.  

Women always get that horn thing confused!

Gunny

There was a time ( During the 20's) when interurban railroads literally experimented with a steel net that lowered in advance of a train.

For whatever reason, that mitt to catch lunatics on the fly fell by the wayside and of course, sadly, you cannot legislate common sense. Any tragedy is one too many. You can't blame the pace of life nowadays as this has been going on since automobiles and trains crossed paths. I have seen concrete barriers that rise up like a parapet wall but the cost is as high as one can imagine. Our railroads need a redesign but we cannot afford to eliminate crossings at high speed. Also, sadly this is a recipe for more of the same. I wish it weren't so, but this sort of thing doesn't stop "the need for speed" at any cost.

She must have never heard about and remembered any of the other railroad crossing fatalities in the area over the past decade.

Andrew

There are two truths that come to mind:

1. You can't fix crazy.
2. You can't fix stupid.