# There's no street there!



## George K (Dec 23, 2014)

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/226637/metra-train-strikes-vehicle-western-springs/

Good Samaritan rescues woman before Metra train strikes vehicle in Western Springs
 An elderly woman was pulled from her vehicle before it was struck by a Metra train Monday evening in Western Springs, causing “extensive” delays on the BNSF line.

At 5:17 p.m., the *80-year-old woman driving southbound on Wolf Road turned eastbound onto the railroad tracks*, (  ) and her vehicle got stuck, according to Western Springs Police Sgt. John Piest.

A good Samaritan pulled the woman from the vehicle, but the door was left open and was subsequently struck by the train, Piest said.

Train No. 1257, scheduled to arrive at Route 59 in Aurora at 5:40 p.m., struck the vehicle at 5:20 p.m., according to Metra spokesman Michael Gillis.

The woman was taken to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange, where she was treated and released, Piest said.

As of 7:06 p.m., all trains on the BNSF line were on the move, but running upwards of 90 minutes behind schedule as a result of the crash, according to Metra.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 23, 2014)

Good that she wasnt hurt or killed!

Sounds like she might have put her trust in a GPS that told her to turn left, or is a victim of a faltering mind or both! ( happens to everyone eventually!)

Time to turn in the keys and leave the driving to someone else!


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## George K (Dec 23, 2014)

D4 was going to be on the train following that one. She's staying with us for the holidays.

Texts after she boarded:



> So like We haven't left yet. I feel like I'm missing something. A few people got off. Yes on train now. It's like. Empty.


She finally found a conductor who explained that there was "an incident" down the line, and they had no idea how long "it would take to clean up the mess."

Yes, fortunately, no one was injured. Trains ended up being delayed about 90 minutes. She took alternate transportation.


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## Devil's Advocate (Dec 23, 2014)

George K said:


> ...*80-year-old woman driving*...


I think we found the bulk of the problem. By the time you reach eighty you can't see clearly, you can't react quickly, and you can't judge your own abilities objectively. It should be very difficult to carry a valid license at that age and require monthly renewals for the few who can.


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## Anderson (Dec 24, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> George K said:
> 
> 
> > ...*80-year-old woman driving*...
> ...


I wouldn't go with monthly renewals (that's borderline vexatious), but annual or biennial would make sense. Of course, the practical problem with that is that you suddenly wind up with anywhere from 5-10% of people going back to mass transit (depending on the ages you use and the area...in some parts of, say, FL that are heavy on the retirement communities you could even end up higher) and all of the forced subsidies that would come with that. In some places (New York, for example) the difference would be negligible; in others, like just about anywhere outside a major city, the transit system would just plain crash from demand. I cannot, for example, imagine James City County (where I grew up) coping with that sort of situation...even if some retirement communities kicked in with their own shuttles, it would still be an overload.


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## Devil's Advocate (Dec 24, 2014)

Anderson said:


> Devil's Advocate said:
> 
> 
> > George K said:
> ...


The people who are eighty today presided over a massive cultural shift that positioned the private vehicle as the only practical option for local travel in much of the country. Their total lack of planning for a day when they were too old to drive is in no way our emergency. I doubt most folks this age would be open to using mass transit anyhow. If they were interested in using it they wouldn't have sat back and watched it be dismantled in the first place. They might as well start saving their pennies for endless taxi gouging. You reap what you sow.


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## Anderson (Dec 24, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Anderson said:
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> 
> > Devil's Advocate said:
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What people are interested in and what they will resort to are not one and the same. Their lack of planning was, in part, down to the fact that nobody was planning on them living into their 80s and 90s in these numbers.

There's also the fact that a reasonable number do end up using various forms of paratransit and the like even now...they just push it off as far as possible. I suspect there are a decent number of them who, if given the choice of "move into a home" or "take the bus" will grudgingly chose the latter. Granted, there are other options increasingly on the table (limited-use self-driving cars...or at least, idiot-hardening cars with some tech like that (i.e. cars that will refuse to drive on railroad tracks or that force-stop when approaching a crossing that's "live").


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## PRR 60 (Dec 25, 2014)

One of my favorite stories from years ago occurred in Philadelphia. A person was following one of the Southwest Philly trolleys heading in town. At 40th Street, where the trolley leaves the street and heads into the subway for center city, this person just kept on following the trolley. Over a mile later, after passing two subway stations, the car finally got stuck in the subway near 30th Street Station. The entire West Philly trolley system was disrupted for hours while SEPTA figured out how to drag that car out of there. This was not the first time someone had driven into the subway, but this was the first time someone went more than a hundred feet or so. SEPTA installed some tire-puncturing spikes, like those used at parking lots, to prevent it from happening again. By the way, the person was not 80 years old.

I have to say that I've been depressed after reading the posts by Devil's Advocate. I am pondering what I am going to do with the few good years I have left before I reach 80 and descend into a life of decrepitude. I better get cracking on my bucket list!


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 25, 2014)

In Florida 80 is the new 60 Bill! LOL


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## fairviewroad (Dec 26, 2014)

PRR 60 said:


> By the way, the person was not 80 years old.


Shhh...you're disrupting the ageism!


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## MARC Rider (Dec 27, 2014)

Devil's Advocate said:


> George K said:
> 
> 
> > ...*80-year-old woman driving*...
> ...


Um, my Dad is 89. He drove up to his summer place in Maine last summer. Yes, he had one of his grandsons drive home with him. Yes, he does it in 2 or 3 days instead of the doing it all in a day like he used to. But when I went up to visit him during the summer, I rode with him into town, and and his driving was fine. Of course, we are all keeping a close eye on him, but so far, so good. My mother-in-law drove fine until she was 90. She gave up her car because it was totaled by a deer crossing the road in front of the car, but it was actually my wife who was driving (and my wife. of course, drive fine.) Age is not necessarily an indicator of whether you should drive or not.


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