At 6:45 a.m.,
A pedestrian who was struck and killed by a Caltrain in Mountain View this morning apparently tried to “beat the train” at a grade crossing even as the arms were down, with lights blinking and bells ringing, a Caltrain spokesman said today.
This was the 12th fatality of 2006, including six suicides and one car accident. It’s really sobering. The body was still by the tracks when my train passed through at 8:20.
I just don’t understand what could be so important that it merits ignoring obvious signs that a train is coming. The express trains don’t stop at all the stations, and they reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. Don’t play with fate like that, please.
Believe it or not, there have been fatalities in broad daylight where people ran into the side of a moving train. People and trains (unless you’re a passenger, and, per mile, it is the most dangerous form of mass transit) just don’t mix well. I had a “depth perception moment” many years ago, at a country grade crossing at night, no lights, no crossbars, and crossed the tracks about 2 car lengths before the train got there. I still shudder. I would have sworn (wrongly) that it was at least a few hundred yards away. Glad I’m here to relate this moment of idiocy.