Word to the Wise: Don't Stop on Train Tracks

I was horrified to hear about a Metra (commuter) train accident on the evening before Thanksgiving in suburban Chicago. Five cars were hit, which then smashed into other cars. Fortunately, there were no deaths. Three people were admitted to the hospital, with one currently remaining in ICU.

Latest coverage available at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Federal investigators said crossing gates were working properly Wednesday night when a Metra express train bound for Antioch blasted through vehicles blocking the tracks in Elmwood Park.

Gates working properly. Good.

"The light turned red. The train rails started blinking. They came down," (Christine) Barnes said. "I was stuck. I couldn't get out. We were all trying to squeeze up. I was trying to move my car as close as I could."

Stopping on the tracks. BAD.

Investigators said rush hour traffic worsened by a flood of holiday drivers headed out of town contributed to Barnes' and other cars being on the tracks.

No it didn't. I don't care if you are one of 2 cars or 2000 cars. Don't stop on the #$&@ tracks.

When the train engineer -- a 30-year veteran with 10 years on the Metra system -- saw vehicles blocking his path about 450 yards from the crossing, he hit the emergency brakes, but it was too late, investigators said.

"A train can't stop at 70 mph in 450 feet," Rosenker said.

Which is why you don't stop on the #$&@ tracks.

Barnes' 1998 purple Buick Regal was shredded in the crash, but she remembers nothing of it. Nothing of the horrible screech of metal on metal. Or the violent impact of the train hitting her car. All she remembers is the light of the train bearing down on her.

Don't stop on the #$&@ tracks.

"I woke up in the ambulance," she said Thursday, recuperating in her hospital room at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. "It's a miracle I came out of that car. I just feel lucky to be alive."

Barnes... with a broken right ankle, broken left finger, and her right leg in a cast. But on Thanksgiving, she was also thankful her two daughters, ages 6 and 9, hadn't been with her Wednesday.

"They are very scared. They don't understand what's going on," she said. "My girls could be without a mother right now."

Yes, thank God those beautiful 6 & 9 year old girls were not with their idiot mother, and thank God they still have their idiot mother.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Don't stop on the #$&@ tracks.