Motorist killed, pedestrian hurt in Metra crash

Something To Think About wrote:

The fact of the matter is that what the guy did was unacceptible, it never should be done...BUT...why assume that it was simple impatience that led him around the down gates? Could it be possible that he had a family emergency to get to? Maybe he had a child at NIU? Maybe some other tragedy? If we knew that he went around the gates because he was just an impatient moron, fine, then let's crucify him, but let's learn a little more about the situation before we strangers rip apart another total stranger. One day, each one of us may be put in a similar situation that I described above. I honestly don't know how I might act if I absolutely HAD to be somewhere and I was stuck in some kind of traffic.

None of your reasons justifies going around RR gates. You can't wait a whole 5 minutes or even 10? Those minutes will not change anything that a person is heading too. It is far better to be a little late than dead, and/or injuring innocent people that maybe hit, because you think your more important than anyone else. Guess what - your not!

Metra spends millions of dollars a year in safety programs but many of these problems could be easily addressed if local communities simply stationed police at these crossings during rush hours, such as this case, and start issuing $500 tickets. I have commuted on Metra for decades and rarely see police. Would this prevented this accident, possibly not. But it would certainly have a long term deterrent effect.
One of my fears when commuting was one of these idiots getting hit by the train and the car flying into us commuters. That poor pedestrian was obeying the law and got hit by the car anyway.

Something To Think About wrote:

The fact of the matter is that what the guy did was unacceptible, it never should be done...BUT...why assume that it was simple impatience that led him around the down gates? Could it be possible that he had a family emergency to get to? Maybe he had a child at NIU? Maybe some other tragedy? If we knew that he went around the gates because he was just an impatient moron, fine, then let's crucify him, but let's learn a little more about the situation before we strangers rip apart another total stranger. One day, each one of us may be put in a similar situation that I described above. I honestly don't know how I might act if I absolutely HAD to be somewhere and I was stuck in some kind of traffic.

Regardless of where he was going, or why, you have to wait for the train to pass. He will never get there now :(

honestly, why and how do people continue to risk their lives??? the gate is down, moron. I hate to say it seriously, he truly did get what he deserved and almost took out an innocent person who was WAITING to cross the tracks.. thankfully the guy suffered minor injuries but could've been far far worse... whoever said the surviving victim should sue the eff out of the deceased is correct. I hate to sound heartless but this moron should've thought about what he was about to do.

And culling of the herd continues. Too bad he had to hurt an innocent bystander.

This was published just a few hours ago...

Two men were injured in downtown Des Plaines Thursday evening after a taxi cab collided with a commuter train pulling into the train station. The cab driver was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge as well as a pedestrian who was struck by the car after it was pushed by the train.

According to Des Plaines Fire Chief Randy Jaeger, at 6:05 p.m., the 42-year-old driver of the taxi was stopped at Pearson Street and the downtown Metra tracks when he apparently suffered a heart attack. The vehicle started moving forward when a train approaching the depot hit the taxi pushing it into the pathway of a pedestrian. The pedestrian, a 48-year-old man from Chicago, was also taken to Lutheran General complaining of pain in his right hip. The cab driver is a Des Plaines resident.

heyy thats cool there are ppl that go to elk grove here!
i see ppl with the name elk grove high school under it.....
anyone know who mr.wang is????

I live right where that happened, It's dumb to drive through down gates, but It's dumbier to drive through with a passenger in the back seat as a customer. Nobody mentioned that the guy that got killed was a cabbie. You get what you deserve.

Seems to me all the comments are exactly what the media wants you to think. What if they were saying this may be terrorism? Certain facts of this crash would fall right into place. A dump truck full of concrete can do a lot of damage to a train, not to mention I find it hard to believe that anyone is that stupid to make a sharp turn and proceed to drive right in front of a train. This guy had to look at where he was about to turn into- gates down, bells ringing, deafining horn etc. That kind of stupidity is down right deliberate. An accident is just not a plausable theroy. Another interesting fact is that diesel fuel requires compression to explode, throw a match into a pool of diesel and watch as the diesel extinguishes the flame. Even a diesel soaked rag burns very slowly. So how did we have this huge explosion and fireball reported by every witness. Something is not right about this. Maybe the powers that be figured with the economy still in the tank it would not be a good time for a terror attack on a commuter train, and because no one but the attacker was killed quickly came up with a lame story about a "dummy" who caused the worst train wreck in several years.