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| Railroad crossing (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Let me just start by saying, YES it is sad that people died. YES, it is sad that they were killed when a train slammed into their car, and yes, it's tragic.
Now that I have that out of the way, there's no need to leave comments on how heartless I am for writing this blog post. I just can't stand seeing these stories anymore, because they are completely the fault of the people who drive around railroad crossing gates. And can be AVOIDED.
So here goes.....
STOP DRIVING AROUND RAILROAD CROSSING GATES people. The gates are there for a f*cking reason. A TRAIN IS COMING. A train, which is being "driven" by an actual human being. That human being isn't expecting someone to be on the damn tracks, in their car, while he's coming through with his big, huge, 80-mile-an-hour train flying down the tracks.
WHY does he not expect anyone to be there? Because the F*CKING crossing gates are DOWN. Alerting people driving in their cars that HEY, the train is coming through on these tracks, so perhaps we should WAIT a couple of minutes, and let it go by, and NOT drive around the crossing gates that are DOWN.
Seriously, now this poor engineer has to live with this guilt of killing two people. TWO PEOPLE. Yes, it is tragic they are dead, their families will never be the same, but you know what? I have to say the engineer is the one I feel sorry for in this situation.
He's got to live with this guilt, because someone decided that waiting a few minutes for the train to go by, wasn't worth the time. So now he killed himself, his passenger, and has caused major damage to two families, or one, because I have no idea if these people were related that were in the car, or friends, or what.
However, that stupid SELF ABSORBED decision changed so many lives in just an instant of time, and it all could have been avoided.
No one should have to lose loved ones like this, and no engineer riding a train through Long Island should have to have this kind of guilt on their shoulders, EVER.
Please, PEOPLE, wake up and STOP going around crossing gates.
OK BUT, the passenger had no control. Its a shame that someone died because they were probably carpooling somewhere. It was idiotic to drive round the gates, but neither one deserved to die for a stupid (very very stupid and avoidable mistake). I feel bad for the engineer too, but what bout the passenger!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll have to hear the whole story. If it was two guys, they were probably both egging each other on to go around it. So that remains to be seen.....but yeah, it is upsetting to know the dumb ass had a passenger that suffered the same fate.
DeleteHowever, I do have to comment on the word MISTAKE.....if they knew the gates were down, and then went around them anyway, is it a mistake? Or is it just being stupid, and making very stupid choices? A mistake is writing "their" when it should clearly be "there" in a sentence......but choosing to drive around gates that are down, because a train is coming, is that a mistake? Thought provoking I know......way too thought provoking for my brain to process, with this extremely cold weather freezing my brain!!!!
Okay, I just read in the paper that it was a woman, driving her father from an appointment. The husband says there's NO WAY his wife would drive around the crossing gates.
DeleteHowever, a witness (other than the engineer) stated he saw the woman drive around the crossing gate.
The LIRR says the gates were functioning properly. Do I trust them? Not completely, but there was an eye witness that saw her drive around the gates......
Tragic, even more so, because you have an INTELLIGENT woman, driving with her father, who drove around the crossing gates.....17 years of driving experience in her life, and she still drove around the gates.
However, we'll never know why she did this. Perhaps she had some kind of emergency happening with her father? She felt to get him someplace faster?
We'll never know, I presume.
AND I STILL STATE THIS LOUDLY: Do not, under any circumstances, drive around crossing gates at train tracks. It IS NOT WORTH IT.
This poor family lost a wife, a mother, a father, a grandfather. And all for what? A very un-wise choice by the driver.
Let's see if an investigation is done into the crossing gate, and LIRR.......and how that eye witness will be grilled, just to make sure he is telling the 100% honest truth of what he saw.
That is horrifically sad. I hope neither of them felt any pain and I pray for the engineer - I agree, that has to be awful.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me often how impatient people are. I am sure I am just as annoying by NEVER being "in a hurry" (its a talent, I am the Queen of Preparation) but I am always letting people pull out in front of me with their car, go in front of me at the check out line... I am just not in that big of a hurry.
This might be an extreme example, and like you said, for all we know, her Dad could have been having an emergency of some sort - heart attack or something - but sadly this isnt the only case of this happening in our country. Others are just in too big of a hurry to wait. Very very sad.
It's super upsetting, because now her kids are without a mother and grandfather. Husband is without a wife.
ReplyDeleteThese things never factor into the equation, because at the moment, you just think "I'm late." or whatever you're thinking thanks to being stuck waiting for the train.
But it's better to wait it out, then have this happen.
Again, urging others to STOP GOING AROUND THESE GATES. And make full stops at stop signs. Look before you go with a green light.
Split second decisions like these are what change lives FOREVER.