Train hits driver on fifth street

Hope he is alright.He should count himself lucky that he was driving a large enough vehicle that helped minimize his injury's. What's sad is that this incident was totally avoidable. It wasn't a lapse in judgement, but a choice to be incredibly stupid.

What a complete DUMBA** Darwinism at its finest!

Chico's own Darwin Award candidate for July 2008.

Hopefully he'll take himself out before he breeds.

Please show some respect. He is a close family friend that made a bad decision. I'm praying that he will just make it through the night.

Yes we all hope he will make it through ok.

The point is, as Marie put it, "this incident was totally avoidable".

It just like the 17 yr old boy who passed over the fences at a Georgia theme park that had "WARNING" signs on them not to go over the fence. He went to retrieve is hat, but was decapitated.

what a complete idiot. he should have died for being so dumb.

"A bad decision"??? Minimizing it won't help, and most of us will still see this for the absolutely moronic act it is. Those close to him should be the most critical since you are who he will hear, and learn from.

Boy, not one of you has ever done something so stupid that when it's over you've thought "Thank God,". I feel sorry for the people close to you who will have to deal with someone so lacking in empathy and compassion. Bad decisions are made all day, everyday. Nothing minimizes them. Your decision to write such righteous crap is one.

More powerful than a locomotive...well, maybe not quite _that_ powerful.

The headline should have been "Driver ignores warnings, drives into path of train."

Unfortunate incident, hope the driver recovers, but it wasn't an accident, and I hope he's well insured to cover the costs of damage to train, gates, and signals.

"Boy, not one of you has ever done something so stupid that when it's over you've thought 'Thank God'."
The fact that I may have done something stupid does nothing to change the fact that this was NO accident.
He chose to go around the gate. Why did he feel the rule did not apply to him? Who knows.
Let this be a lesson to us all. Railroad crossing gates come down for a reason: to save us from ourselves. Let it.

Mary: Thank God for what? Someone does something idiotic they need to be fully recognized and not have people feeling sorry for them and coddling them. You are equating ignoring the warnings, crossing arms, lights,etc... and driving into the path of a train on equal ground with making a comment that high and mighty Mary disagrees with? That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Thank God? If there was one, this was likely His plan for the guy so I don't know that thanking God would be on his mind....

What's you opinion of filing a lawsuit against the railroad for "allowing" this guy to get through the barricade? I mean, shouldn't the railroad have done more to prevent this from happening??? I bet I can guess what you think.

what an idiot! he should be fined !

All of you people who are calling this person names and what not should be ashamed of yourself! If he is still hanging on, he's hangin on for his life, in critical condition. There are family members and fiends that read these comments. I think all of you people whining and calling names are pathetic and a bunch of idiots yourself! Put yourself in his shoes! He made a MISTAKE, which EVERYBODY reading this has done at one time or another, this one just may cause him his life. Hopefulyy your mistake didn't have such tragic consequences.
And, Sandy, I've seen some of your other posts. Get a life and try showing what it means to have a heart. I'd say you're an idiot just beacause you act like such a B****!

i make mistakes all the time. HOWEVER going around a train warning is just idiotic. people should be held acountable for their actions and not just babied and told they just messed up. a high school friend died when he walked in front of a train a few years ago in that same area. PEOPLE KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES BUT CHOOSE NOT TO CARE. its his fault.

You namecallers suck, "Put yourself in his shoes! He made a MISTAKE"
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He made a mistake? Yes he did... the point is he chose to IGNORE WARNING SIGNS! What if he caused the train to derail and kill people on board the train? Or if he had a passenger in his truck and caused harm to that person?

I am sorry, but we should all know that crossing when the crossing hands are down is a big "No,No" because you can get hurt!

Just because we call him an idiot for doing this (which is correct) doesn't mean we don't hope he makes it. We know he isn't the only one that has made a mistake. We have people that chose to still drink and drive when they are pass their legal limit.

I think those of us calling names are just fustrated by people who don't obey warning signs and blame someone else for their actions. People need to take responsibility for their own actions.

Like the 3 guys (one died) who antgonized the tiger in the S.F. Zoo. The worse of it is they get to sue the the Zoo and not take reponsibility for their actions.

I hope the man does make it and that he will recover fully from this. I also hope he takes responsibility for his actions.

he probably works for CAL FIRE

Wow! I am totally shocked at some of the comments posted here. There is no doubt this driver made a mistake; albeit a stupid mistake. To ridicule him and make dumb a** comments like, "he probably works for CAL Fire", are completely pointless. I pray for this driver and his family and hope that this tragic crash serves as a lesson to others not to try to beat a train going 60 mph.

You namecallers suck wrote:

All of you people who are calling this person names and what not should be ashamed of yourself! If he is still hanging on, he's hangin on for his life, in critical condition. There are family members and fiends that read these comments. I think all of you people whining and calling names are pathetic and a bunch of idiots yourself! Put yourself in his shoes! He made a MISTAKE, which EVERYBODY reading this has done at one time or another, this one just may cause him his life. Hopefulyy your mistake didn't have such tragic consequences.
And, Sandy, I've seen some of your other posts. Get a life and try showing what it means to have a heart. I'd say you're an idiot just beacause you act like such a B****!

Why would his friends and family be reading comments on and on line article?

I will not put myself in his shoes. I will never do anything this dumb.

How can you continue to classify his act as a simple mistake? How do you know it was even a mistake?

I've just recently moved to Chico and has seen people drive past the gates about 5 times now. I've never seen this before moving here. When I saw the remains of this accident only an hour after it happened I was mortified. What is the deal??