Dumb woman races train

and kills her two daughters

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-traindeath_websep07,1,975134.story

This is a real tragedy but a woman in a mini van was racing through a parking lot to try to beat a train to the crossing.

She lost.

Inside her van were her 4 children. Two of them (her two daughters) were killed.  Her two sons survived but were badly injured as well as the woman.

6,119 views 15 replies
Reply #1 Top

Damn, people are stupid.  In such a rush that she rather risk the lives of her family rather than wait for the trains to pass.

I feel sorry for her family.

Reply #2 Top
I have no words for this one. Sad.
Reply #3 Top
I have no words for this one. Sad.


Damn, people are stupid.


I think Karma said it best. It is a shame that others had to suffer for her stupidity.
Reply #4 Top
Insane, totally insane. No doubt she could be prosecuted, but it would serve no purpose, she has sentenced herself for life, she will have to live with the consequencies. I wish people would relearn what "responsibility" means - it also applies before an event in terms of personal values & standards, not just after it with the benefit of hindsight.

Sadly others are hurt before most get the message.
Reply #5 Top

What an idiot.

It didn't escape my attention that the family are soliciting for donations to pay for the kids' funerals because they can't afford it themselves.  I imagine that the woman's hospital bill is already in the hundreds of thousands dollar range - and who is going to pay that?  If the family can't bury their kids, they sure as hell aren't going to be able to pay for that kind of medical treatment.

And all to save a few minutes, a few seconds.

What an idiot.

Reply #6 Top

Whenever I see stuff like this I always wonder what was happening in the van at the time.

Was she playing a game?  Joking with the kids that she was gonna beat the train?  Or were they listening to the radio and oblivious until the trains hit.

It gave me a sick feeling watching that video.  If I killed one of my kids, I would want to die too.

Reply #7 Top

Reply By: Tova7Posted: Friday, September 07, 2007
Whenever I see stuff like this I always wonder what was happening in the van at the time.

Alot of idiots use the phone while driving,  wouldn't surprise me if that's part of it.  99 % of it is her impatience and stupidity.    I agree with Tova,  I couldn't live afterwards if I had done something like that.

Reply #8 Top
she will sue either the train company, the city, or the owner of the parking lot.
Reply #9 Top
she will sue either the train company, the city, or the owner of the parking lot.


And she just may win, especially if there weren't guardrails. I couldn't tell from the distance, but it didn't look like any were down.

Not that she DESERVES to win, mind you, but her attorney will likely argue that the presence of rails would have alerted her to the oncoming train.
Reply #10 Top
I think she might have gotten through if not for the second train she was not racing. Maybe she was only paying attention to the one to the exclusion of the other?
Reply #11 Top

And she just may win, especially if there weren't guardrails. I couldn't tell from the distance, but it didn't look like any were down.

Not that she DESERVES to win, mind you, but her attorney will likely argue that the presence of rails would have alerted her to the oncoming train.

I hope she isn't dumb enough to do that.  I don't know about the laws where this happened, but here, unless the tracks go over a road (which this example did not) you don't have to have gates.

Considering that she was moving out pretty fast (I'd like to know the speed of the train), it's hard not to place guilt all on her.  Especially since the parking lot was the frekkin' train station's parking lot.  What an idiot.

Reply #12 Top
Darwin at work again, god bless him.
Too bad she didn't win a Darwin award before having the opportunity to have 4 kids!
Reply #13 Top
but her attorney will likely argue that the presence of rails would have alerted her to the oncoming train.


Your right they probably will, and at the same time conveniently ignore she is on camera racing and overtaking the first one. Well after all it was all of 30 yards from the car, it is a long way to recognise a 100 ton lump of metal twenty times the size of her car.

Probably exercising her Constitutional right to be dumb ...   
Reply #14 Top
Darwin at work again, god bless him


Took the words right out of my mouth... ( LOL @ 'Darwin' & 'God' too)
Reply #15 Top
Stupidity at it's finest. It's a shame that stupid people like this don't kill themselves alone. Some always have to have innocent passengers with them. It would be beneficial to rid ourselves of their stupidity if they just killed themselves, but no, her stupidity was paid by the death of her 2 girls and the physical and mental damage to her other 2 kids and their family. Committing suicide would benefit everyone, keep the kids away from such a moronic person.