Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on April 15, 2011, 9:19 pm
Riding home tonight, I witnessed a genuine car stuck in the
train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
No idea how the hell they got themselves into this situation or why
they didn't both abandon the car, but fortunately the train just
tagged
the rear of the car and spun it a couple times. I was in the right
hand
lane stopped at a light with the track on my right. When the train
hit,
I had a split second to duck and cover before the debris shower
landed.
Lots and lots of car fragments flying through the air. I stayed head
down on the tank bag until stuff stopped flying.
I hope the woman in the back was OK. She was unconscious but had
no visible injuries. I and many other people tried to dial 911. I got
a cheerful
message from my cellphone carrier telling me that my call could not
be completed at this time and please try again later. Hopefully this
was because 911 was swamped with other reports of the same accident.
In any case, the cops showed up quickly, followed shortly afterward
by the FD. At that point, I figured the best thing to do was get the
hell out of the way of people who were able to do something useful.
I was on my way home from the camera store with a newly purchased
camera in my saddlebag, but would have felt way too ghoulish taking
any pictures.
The car's gas tank had ruptured, so I attempted to push the bike away
from the scene before starting it and immediately lost my footing
in the pool of gas and dropped the bike. A good Samaritan helped me
pick the bike up and push it away from the gas pool. I spent a minute
or two calming a lady who was on the verge of hysteria, then started
the bike and left. Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
Un-frikking-believable.
Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on April 15, 2011, 9:34 pm
> > Riding home tonight, I witnessed a genuine car stuck in the
> > train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
> > there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
> > out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
> > Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
> > Un-frikking-believable.
> What? No pics? This is why we should always wear helmet cams!
> Glad you are ok. Where in the Bay Area was this?
Alma/Central Expwy in Palo Alto. Like I said, I would have felt
more than a little ghoulish taking pix when there was somebody
who might have been seriously hurt.
And besides, I didn't think of it.
Posted by Calgary (Don) on April 15, 2011, 10:39 pm
On 15/04/2011 7:34 PM, Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Riding home tonight, I witnessed a genuine car stuck in the
>>> train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
>>> there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
>>> out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
>>> Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
>>
>>> Un-frikking-believable.
>>
>> What? No pics? This is why we should always wear helmet cams!
>>
>> Glad you are ok. Where in the Bay Area was this?
> Alma/Central Expwy in Palo Alto. Like I said, I would have felt
> more than a little ghoulish taking pix when there was somebody
> who might have been seriously hurt.
> And besides, I didn't think of it.
I suppose the pictures would have had some value, but I tend to agree
with you they would have been ghoulish and my sense is people deserve a
bit of privacy in times like that.
--
Disclaimer
Do not believe a thing I have said, unless you already know it to be
true, or can independently verify it from another source.
Reeky Ride To The Rockies
http://actualriders.ca/reekyrockies.htm
Posted by Calgary (Don) on April 15, 2011, 10:36 pm
On 15/04/2011 7:19 PM, Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:
> Riding home tonight, I witnessed a genuine car stuck in the
> train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
> there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
> out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
> No idea how the hell they got themselves into this situation or why
> they didn't both abandon the car, but fortunately the train just
> tagged
> the rear of the car and spun it a couple times. I was in the right
> hand
> lane stopped at a light with the track on my right. When the train
> hit,
> I had a split second to duck and cover before the debris shower
> landed.
> Lots and lots of car fragments flying through the air. I stayed head
> down on the tank bag until stuff stopped flying.
> I hope the woman in the back was OK. She was unconscious but had
> no visible injuries. I and many other people tried to dial 911. I got
> a cheerful
> message from my cellphone carrier telling me that my call could not
> be completed at this time and please try again later. Hopefully this
> was because 911 was swamped with other reports of the same accident.
> In any case, the cops showed up quickly, followed shortly afterward
> by the FD. At that point, I figured the best thing to do was get the
> hell out of the way of people who were able to do something useful.
> I was on my way home from the camera store with a newly purchased
> camera in my saddlebag, but would have felt way too ghoulish taking
> any pictures.
> The car's gas tank had ruptured, so I attempted to push the bike away
> from the scene before starting it and immediately lost my footing
> in the pool of gas and dropped the bike. A good Samaritan helped me
> pick the bike up and push it away from the gas pool. I spent a minute
> or two calming a lady who was on the verge of hysteria, then started
> the bike and left. Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
> Un-frikking-believable.
Scary shit. I can't imagine the guy thought by flagging the train it
could stop. Maybe I should ask if it was a freight or commuter train.
And why would someone stay in the car? That is even more puzzling.
Regardless I am glad to hear you are ok. We are just a tad exposed on
our bikes and automobile shrapnel could do a number on us. Let alone
standing in a pool of gasoline trying to push your bike out of harms
way. As I said, scary shit.
I hope the woman was ok. If you hear anything on your local news please
pass it along. I would be interested to know how she is and why she
stayed in the car.
--
Disclaimer
Do not believe a thing I have said, unless you already know it to be
true, or can independently verify it from another source.
Reeky Ride To The Rockies
http://actualriders.ca/reekyrockies.htm
Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on April 15, 2011, 10:57 pm
wrote:
> On 15/04/2011 7:19 PM, Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:
> > Riding home tonight, I witnessed a genuine car stuck in the
> > train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
> > there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
> > out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
> > No idea how the hell they got themselves into this situation or why
> > they didn't both abandon the car, but fortunately the train just
> > tagged
> > the rear of the car and spun it a couple times. I was in the right
> > hand
> > lane stopped at a light with the track on my right. When the train
> > hit,
> > I had a split second to duck and cover before the debris shower
> > landed.
> > Lots and lots of car fragments flying through the air. I stayed head
> > down on the tank bag until stuff stopped flying.
> > I hope the woman in the back was OK. She was unconscious but had
> > no visible injuries. I and many other people tried to dial 911. I got
> > a cheerful
> > message from my cellphone carrier telling me that my call could not
> > be completed at this time and please try again later. Hopefully this
> > was because 911 was swamped with other reports of the same accident.
> > In any case, the cops showed up quickly, followed shortly afterward
> > by the FD. At that point, I figured the best thing to do was get the
> > hell out of the way of people who were able to do something useful.
> > I was on my way home from the camera store with a newly purchased
> > camera in my saddlebag, but would have felt way too ghoulish taking
> > any pictures.
> > The car's gas tank had ruptured, so I attempted to push the bike away
> > from the scene before starting it and immediately lost my footing
> > in the pool of gas and dropped the bike. A good Samaritan helped me
> > pick the bike up and push it away from the gas pool. I spent a minute
> > or two calming a lady who was on the verge of hysteria, then started
> > the bike and left. Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
> > Un-frikking-believable.
> Scary shit. I can't imagine the guy thought by flagging the train it
> could stop. Maybe I should ask if it was a freight or commuter train.
I had it wrong. The guy I took for the driver was in fact a
passenger. The woman they pulled out of the back seat
was in fact the driver and was killed. Apparently the impact
threw her from the driver's seat into the back.
> And why would someone stay in the car? That is even more puzzling.
If she was un-belted, I guess she may have been trying to escape.
Whatever happened, they either reacted wrong or not quickly enough.
> Regardless I am glad to hear you are ok. We are just a tad exposed on
> our bikes and automobile shrapnel could do a number on us. Let alone
> standing in a pool of gasoline trying to push your bike out of harms
> way. As I said, scary shit.
Hadn't occurred to me until it actually happened just how exposed
I was.
> I hope the woman was ok. If you hear anything on your local news please
> pass it along. I would be interested to know how she is and why she
> stayed in the car.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/27565140/detail.html
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> > train crossing type accident. For reasons I will never understand,
> > there was a woman in the back seat of the car while a man was
> > out of the car, nearly as I can figure, trying to flag down the train.
> > Hope to God it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
> > Un-frikking-believable.
> What? No pics? This is why we should always wear helmet cams!
> Glad you are ok. Where in the Bay Area was this?