# Metra Commercial



## Windy City LSA (Aug 29, 2006)

Today I saw a 15 second commercial aimed at the general pubic conerning rail safety. At the end, it is "revealed" that it's Metra that provided the commercial. I'm guessing it's aimed at the silly people who try to beat trains in various ways. In part it's grim footage of mangled bikes, cars, etc. Speaking for myself, I never recall seeing such a commercial. (I'm NOT claiming there has never been one!  ) It made me quite happy to see it. Having worked on passenger trains and even having had the opportunity to sit in a locomotive imagining what it would be like to see a human rail obstruction and furthermore imagining the terror of the engineer to experience this...it made me especially happy. For anybody in the Chicagoland area, I saw this on channel 23 (cable 223-Me TV) Just thought I'd share.


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## GG-1 (Aug 29, 2006)

Windy City LSA said:


> Today I saw a 15 second commercial aimed at the general pubic conerning rail safety.


A few years ago I worked with the film crew tha did a safety film for the California DOT. They staged a diesel to hit a Van at 25mph. The van was loaded with Pyro effects to wake up California Drivers that seem to thinks gates are to "run"

They spent several hours getting the lighting, speed and posistion correct for maximin effext. Finaly the rolled camera and engine. The Crew was so suprised, at the amount of damage, The Van disinigrated, that they never fired the pyro. The commercial was aired and challeneged many times as a fake, yet the people there, now understand, it is futile, the train wins.


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## Guest (Aug 31, 2006)

Windy City LSA said:


> Today I saw a 15 second commercial aimed at the general pubic conerning rail safety. At the end, it is "revealed" that it's Metra that provided the commercial. I'm guessing it's aimed at the silly people who try to beat trains in various ways. In part it's grim footage of mangled bikes, cars, etc. Speaking for myself, I never recall seeing such a commercial. (I'm NOT claiming there has never been one!  ) It made me quite happy to see it. Having worked on passenger trains and even having had the opportunity to sit in a locomotive imagining what it would be like to see a human rail obstruction and furthermore imagining the terror of the engineer to experience this...it made me especially happy. For anybody in the Chicagoland area, I saw this on channel 23 (cable 223-Me TV) Just thought I'd share.


i wish someone could upload this commercial to YouTube, i'd love to see this commercical for myself. ditto w/the Cali DOT one too, since it always shakes my head how often i see idiots risk their life just to beat a train across(its especially bad in the Chicagoland area, as many suburbs have whistle bans that probably don't help to discourage fools from driving around lowered gates). thus why i'm not surprised that a few suburbs have started to install cameras at RR crossings to capture the license plate #'s of the foolish drivers who think its so important to beat a train across the tracks(not to mention that i've seen signs warning pedestrians of tickets and fines in a few suburbs too).

i guess some people will never learn though, will they...


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## George Harris (Sep 1, 2006)

The absolute unfeeling selfishness behind the thinking of those promoting whistle bans is beyond my comprehension. You are saying, I have chosen to live within hearing distance of a railroad track, but I do not want to have to hear a warning that can and does frequently save someones life.

I have new for you. You can get used to it and you can live with it. It does not hurt you in any way. In fact you can even learn to sleep through it even if you live next to the track. I have seen this one in action with a friend's baby. They lived where the whistle was blown by trains as it went by their house. The track was just on the other side of the road their house faced. We were standing in their yard talking and she was holding the one month old, asleep on her arm. Train came by. We stopped talking as the eingines passed. The baby DID NOT wake up.

George


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## frj1983 (Sep 1, 2006)

Speaking of vans getting demolished,

I was on a very late Metra train 2 Wednesdays ago, where an SUV went around the gates to try and beat an Amtrak train. That SUV was in tiny pieces with nary a scratch on the Amtrak lead engine. They paid dearly for that foolish decision. I remember how quiet it got when we passed the covered bodies on the track. I hope everyone on our train got the hint!


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## AlanB (Sep 1, 2006)

George Harris said:


> The absolute unfeeling selfishness behind the thinking of those promoting whistle bans is beyond my comprehension. You are saying, I have chosen to live within hearing distance of a railroad track, but I do not want to have to hear a warning that can and does frequently save someones life.


While it's not a warning that saves lives, the whistle bans are every bit as bad as the insanity that forced planes taking off from Chicago's Ohare airport to throttle back seconds after getting airborne, while excecuting a series of sharp turns. All to avoid creating too much noise over a neighborhood that was built long after the airport. So to allow a few people to watch and hear their favorite TV show, we endanger the life of every passenger on the airplane.


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## AmtrakWPK (Sep 1, 2006)

I think there really ought to be substantially higher soundproofing required in all residential housing when areas close to an airport's departure and arrival corridors are rezoned for residential, or simply by legislation statewide for residential neighborhoods in those corridors. Anything less is an invitation to disaster. The increased construction costs will still be less than the cost of all that useless litigation, and the lives saved would be worth it in any case...


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## Windy City LSA (Sep 1, 2006)

Guest said:


> i wish someone could upload this commercial to YouTube, i'd love to see this commercical for myself. ditto w/the Cali DOT one too, since it always shakes my head how often i see idiots risk their life just to beat a train across(its especially bad in the Chicagoland area, as many suburbs have whistle bans that probably don't help to discourage fools from driving around lowered gates). thus why i'm not surprised that a few suburbs have started to install cameras at RR crossings to capture the license plate #'s of the foolish drivers who think its so important to beat a train across the tracks(not to mention that i've seen signs warning pedestrians of tickets and fines in a few suburbs too).
> i guess some people will never learn though, will they...


No need to do the You Tube thing. I found it here.

http://metrarail.com/Saftey/index.html

It's not a stellar, award winning commercial or anything. More of a 15 second PSA. But it's money well spent!


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## boratwanksta (Sep 1, 2006)

Windy City LSA said:


> Guest said:
> 
> 
> > i wish someone could upload this commercial to YouTube, i'd love to see this commercical for myself. ditto w/the Cali DOT one too, since it always shakes my head how often i see idiots risk their life just to beat a train across(its especially bad in the Chicagoland area, as many suburbs have whistle bans that probably don't help to discourage fools from driving around lowered gates). thus why i'm not surprised that a few suburbs have started to install cameras at RR crossings to capture the license plate #'s of the foolish drivers who think its so important to beat a train across the tracks(not to mention that i've seen signs warning pedestrians of tickets and fines in a few suburbs too).
> ...


thanks for posting the link to it, i'll look at it later. i'm curious to see the commercial anyway, even if its just a basic PSA.

and btw, i originally posted as 'guest' on that post, only b/c i was silly enough to forget to login last night on this site. but c'est la vie....


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## sentinal (Sep 8, 2006)

RR crossing cameras

what was it about a year and a half to two years ago some lawyer got a ticket in the mail for going around the gates, Just out side of chicago. took it to court first trying to say it wasnt him and they couldnt prove it was him driving then when that didnt work he tryed the old invasion of privacy lawsuit


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## George Harris (Sep 8, 2006)

AlanB said:


> While it's not a warning that saves lives, the whistle bans are every bit as bad as the insanity that forced planes taking off from Chicago's Ohare airport to throttle back seconds after getting airborne, while excecuting a series of sharp turns. All to avoid creating too much noise over a neighborhood that was built long after the airport. So to allow a few people to watch and hear their favorite TV show, we endanger the life of every passenger on the airplane.


Alan, the same thing is done at Washington National, particularly when landing from and taking off to the north. The requirement is to follow the Patomac River for a considerable distance in both directions, but to the south it is wider and straighter. In the northerern approach and departure there are a number of low altitude low speed twists and turns. I have often wondered if that was a factor in the crash into the Patomac shortly after takeoff - to the north - of the Air Florida (was that the name? ) plane several years ago.

As to the lawyer in the crossing incident: I think if we were to realize the true cost of unnecessary, useless, and self serving litigation in the US, particularly but not only in the medical field, to everyone idividually as well as the economy as a whole, there would likely be a massive lynching of lawyers.


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## frj1983 (Sep 8, 2006)

Careful George,

you might get sued!!!

As to the true cost of such litigation...it comes home to me this month. My physician of 8 years(who has been practicing for 23) is officially retiring from the practice of medicine at 48. Her malpractice insurance keeps climbing through the roof every year(despite no claim against her, ever) and the amount of paperwork she needs to fill out every day is so staggering, that she must spend 2-3 hours every night working her way through it, besides reviewing tests, lab reports, etc. She lost enthusiam and heart for her job, so now, she has decided to be a stay at home Mom.

Result: I and others lose a good physician. Sorry George, you gave me an opportunity to vent here.

Anyway, I am amazed at the precipitous drop in car-train accidents at a local crossing where sets of these cameras are now employed. Signs and lights remind you of the crossing and what is waiting there for you. From 50 accidents a year, it has now dropped down to 2. Amazing what a $300.00 assessment(or threat of such) will do to change peoples habits.


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## MrFSS (Sep 8, 2006)

frj1983 said:


> Careful George,
> you might get sued!!!
> 
> As to the true cost of such litigation...it comes home to me this month. My physician of 8 years(who has been practicing for 23) is officially retiring from the practice of medicine at 48. Her malpractice insurance keeps climbing through the roof every year(despite no claim against her, ever) and the amount of paperwork she needs to fill out every day is so staggering, that she must spend 2-3 hours every night working her way through it, besides reviewing tests, lab reports, etc. She lost enthusiam and heart for her job, so now, she has decided to be a stay at home Mom.
> ...


You want to hear about lawyers and their actions? Where I live in Central Kentucky is not far from where the Comair plane crashed a few weeks ago. Within a few days several big law firms from around the country had ads in the local paper conveying their sympathies to the families, and, oh by the way, if you need an attorney, we specialize in this sort of thing.

Another local attorney was so upset that members of the bar would do this he has taken the matter to the Ky Bar Assoc for review.


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## AmtrakWPK (Sep 9, 2006)

There's plenty of blame on all sides for the medical malpractice litigation glut. If professionals that committed malpractice had enacted, and enforced, an ethical requirement to 'fess up and spend whatever was necessary to remedy the injury, so that the malpractice victims never had need of a lawsuit, then the whole cottage industry of medical malpractice wouldn't have gotten traction. Now, there's no interest in "justice" or "fairness". The whole focus is on "winning", regardlesss of the cost and regardless of the malpractice victims. And huge obscene gobs of money goes to attorneys on both sides. If this hadn't happened this way, if the medical profession had started out simply acknowledging mistakes and providing restorative treatments immediately and at no charge to the patient, we wouldn't be in the disastrous place we are today, and it is also likely that medical care and medical insurance and malpractice insurance wouldn't be nearly as expensive as they all are. The dollars would mostly go to care for the patient, not to the insurance and litigation industries. Instead of the situation now where fewer and fewer people can afford medical insurance. When you complain about where you are, take a minute and look how you got there.


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## MrFSS (Sep 9, 2006)

AmtrakWPK said:


> There's plenty of blame on all sides for the medical malpractice litigation glut. If professionals that committed malpractice had enacted, and enforced, an ethical requirement to 'fess up and spend whatever was necessary to remedy the injury, so that the malpractice victims never had need of a lawsuit, then the whole cottage industry of medical malpractice wouldn't have gotten traction. Now, there's no interest in "justice" or "fairness". The whole focus is on "winning", regardlesss of the cost and regardless of the malpractice victims. And huge obscene gobs of money goes to attorneys on both sides. If this hadn't happened this way, if the medical profession had started out simply acknowledging mistakes and providing restorative treatments immediately and at no charge to the patient, we wouldn't be in the disastrous place we are today, and it is also likely that medical care and medical insurance and malpractice insurance wouldn't be nearly as expensive as they all are. The dollars would mostly go to care for the patient, not to the insurance and litigation industries. Instead of the situation now where fewer and fewer people can afford medical insurance. When you complain about where you are, take a minute and look how you got there.


Don't disagree with what you say, but, kind of hard to restore a patient who dies from the malpractice.

I have read books on the idea that we live in a "its not my fault" society, today. Didn't use to be that way.


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