Touring - watch those rail road crossings

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old bones
08-23-05, 04:02 PM
riverside il train hits bicyclist
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ch-050823metra,1,1489955.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed

Camel
08-23-05, 04:40 PM
Sad, however this thread could also be titled "Don't disregarded flashing lights, bells and warning gates at rail crossings".
mtnroads
08-23-05, 06:12 PM
It is sad because sometimes we just make bad decisions. I think we have all done it but usually it isn't fatal. She may have been preoccupied, thought the signal was on for the stopped train, and not heard the other one coming from all the noise. Or something else might have been going on. That's too bad.

old bones
08-23-05, 07:07 PM
yeah that would have been better

actually right after i posted, i thought the title could more apropos to the subject

i guess a good thing to remember
Sigurdd50
08-24-05, 06:51 AM
woof!
my father commuted from the 'burbs for about 40 years. He described an accident just like this at one of the next station back from where he got on...'cept it was a kid on a bike riding around the stopped train.

He said business men who witnessed it just turned around and went back home.
Heck, when I drive and am near a track that is adjacent to a stoplight...I don't stop anywhere near the track until th elight is green.
David in PA
08-24-05, 01:30 PM
It's possible that she was simply tired or exhausted for whatever reason, causing her mind to not "register" what was happening around her. This I feel is the main reason for most accidents. For example, great care must be taken when crossing a diagonal railroad track, as the bike's tires could fall into the track/road grooves, causing a deadly accident. I am always cautious in such instances. However, one time on my tour, near the end of my cycling day, I was spent--physically and mentally--and wasn't concentrating. The next thing I knew the diagonal tracks were right THERE in front of me. Fortunately, my quick, evasive maneuver saved my arse. A half second later it would have been another story.