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Last night at around 6 p.m., a Caltrain struck a woman at the Mountain View station, killing her on impact. The train was heading south when the unidentified female collided with the train. According to CBS5, "the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office has not yet identified the woman and it is unknown if the intent of the incident was suicide."
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Did anyone else see this? This is shameful!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11
[more]
Was she trying to board a bike car that was already full?
The train was heading south when the unidentified female collided with the train
this sentence strikes me as odd somehow.
oh.
@periqueblend - this author is probably reacting to the backlash from cyclists who vehemently complain when they see the MSM write "The bike collided with the truck" in instances where a Ford-F150 runs someone down from behind. While it is an odd sentence - it implies blame on the unfortunate woman, which is technically correct.
Of course Brock is anything but Mainstream...
Per the blogs it seems that she went around lowered gates in an attempt to beat the train. BAD IDEA.
Caltrain should put up a sign saying that someone was killed trying to cross the tracks against the signal, sort of like the signs you see at Ocean Beach: "SWIMMERS HAVE DROWNED HERE." Anything to keep people from making this mistake again.
For the BART fanboys who say "BART is s00per great because it is grade separated, we should build BART around the Bay for billions" - BART fatality this AM at Pleasant Hill. Still no service from Concord to Lafayette.
There are BART fanboys? Wow
@mark925 - good point.
This story is eerily appropriate.
http://tinyurl.com/3g3afm
Anyone amazingly dull enough to go around a closed bright yellow gate with a lowered white and black arm, 4 flashing red lights and super loud clanging bells plus a loud train horn warning of it's impending arrival or departure - not to mention that the signs posted clearly state "$271 fine for going AROUND THE CLOSED GATE" and potential death and roadkill to your hiney - deserves their fate.
Hopefully they didn't get a chance to breed yet saving us all from further less-than-brilliant progeny with poor decision making skills.
The moment you think you've made something idiot proof, somebody wanders along and ruins the concept.
Sympathies to the conductor and window washer.
Victim ID'd as 51 year old Arden Sullivan http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=9666
I find it difficult to believe that anyone was stupid enough to try to beat the train. I'm going to assume this was a suicide. In which case I must say, why must this be done in public, inconveniencing everyone? Want to kill yourself? DO IT AT HOME, where you bother no one except the unfortunate person who finds your body.
@murphstahoe: thanks. I understand now.
murphstahoe: I guess it would be silly to point out that the guy that got nailed by BART this A.M. was not at a grade separated portion of the track.
Well, guess we should build a caltrain suicide net.
I doubt anyone will see this, 4 days after the fact, but here goes.
@bluecanary,
You would be absolutely amazed at people going around the gates to avoid missing their train. I used Mountain View station frequently when I commuted. People would sneak around the gates for the northbound morning baby bullets as I was arriving southbound, apparently unaware of how frequently two trains would pass through the station within a minute or so of each other.
While I hate being late as much as anyone, I don't think I've ever gone around a crossing gate to make a train. There's always another one, or a cab if it is the last train of the night.
Really glad I wasn't there to witness it.