The time I nearly killed myself (not depressing, I swear)

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher) 04/05/2018 at 09:20 • Filed to: Young and dumb

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I would like to tell you about the time I almost killed myself. No, this isn’t a story about depression or suicidal thoughts. This is simply a story of a dumb teenager … fortunately not quite dumb enough.

During high school I delivered for Il Forno’s Pizza. It’s on the lower right hand corner of this screenshot. All the buildings in this picture are new nearly 20 years old, because when I was a senior in high school they basically tore down the entire center of town and redeveloped it. When I worked there, Il Forno’s was roughly were CorePower Yoga is now. Pizza delivery is a great kid in school job. Ostensibly underpaid at $2/hour, but we got to keep the delivery fees as well as well as our tips. Normally I’d walk out at the end of a 4-hour shift with $50-70 in cash monies. Not bad considering minimum wage at the time was $5.15, and I left a $6/hour job at the hardware store to take this one. We did have to use our own vehicles and buy our own gas, but gas was like $1/gallon. Ah, the heady days of the late 90’s.

Pay structure being what it was, the more deliveries you made, the more money you made. So, it was in our best interest to hustle. I got really good at finding shortcuts and alternate routes, and figuring out address systems. This was before cell phones were common, and GPS in a car was something I’d seen on TV once. And let me tell you, people SUCK at having their addresses clearly marked, or marked at all.

The train tracks behind the restaurant, and more specifically the train station one block to the north, quickly became my arch nemesis. As you can see in this wider screen shot, the train comes to a stop a full block north of Osterman Road, where I was often waiting to cross so I could make my delivery, and hustle back for another one. The gates wouldn’t open though. I’d just sit there while the train unloaded all the commuters, for what felt like an eternity. When the train would eventually move literally 10-20 more FEET to the north, then the gates would finally open.

After having this same scenario play out innumerable times, one day I had a thought … It was the single dumbest thought, I ever done thunked … “Why don’t I just drive around the gate?” That’s what leaked out of my stupid, teenage, hormone addled brain. Yeah, why not? I always just sit here not making money. I should go around and make more money.

Thankfully my right foot was like, “Really brain? Really?”

Brain then did some quick math, and realized we might be able to make one more delivery, which could possibly net us an extra three entire dollars. Brain decided this was not an acceptable risk/reward ratio, and told right foot to go ahead and keep holding the brake pedal down.

About three seconds later a southbound Amtrak train hauled ass through there on the far track. No question it would’ve eaten me and my Oldsmobile for dinner.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 09:56

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Yikes.

Years ago, Metra had a rash of incidents exactly as you describe - train stopped in the station discharging passengers, and another train blew through at 65-79 MPH on the other track. Quite a few passengers were killed when they didn’t look before crossing.

I have a very vivid memory of an older video that Metra would show, where a man and a woman start to walk across the tracks behind their train. Suddenly, the man jumps back, but the woman continues, and a train going 60+ MPH appears. The video cuts off with the train less than 10 feet from her, thankfully.

Some time around 15-20 years ago, Metra re-set their schedules to avoid having that happening, and at least some of the operating railroads (most Metra lines are operated by the freight RR’s on contract, not by Metra directly) implemented a policy that forbid trains from entering a station where a train was stopped. That seems to have cut back on deaths.

They also - briefly - ran an ad campaign in the late ‘90's, which was a simple black poster with white lettering that read “Ever met anyone who’s been hit by a train? Didn’t think so.” There was a negative uproar over that, so they pulled it, but it’s basically true.

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW 04/05/2018 at 10:10

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I vaguely remember those incidents. I don’t know how fast that Amtrak train was going, but they always seemed to be doing up around 80 through town. I would’ve been paint on the train for sure.

Urambo Tauro > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 10:25

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Can’t say the same thought hasn’t crossed my mind before... glad I never followed through on it. That other train would have ruined more than just your day.

This brings up an important question about crossing signals. There’s got to be a better way than to leave them activated during a stopped train that’s not blocking the crossing. It lends a false sense of security and frustrates drivers into being willing to take the risk.

fryguy > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 10:28

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As a train buff, I was taught early by my Dad to never try to cross the tracks around a gate that is down. My hometown lost a resident when she stopped behind a school bus at a railroad crossing and then drove around the vehicle, bypassing the lowered crossing gate. The train struck her vehicle on the passenger side and pushed it down the tracks before stopping. Paramedics took her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The sad part of this story is that her son was an astronaut and on board the International Space Station when she died. I won’t even put my car near the crossing when a train is passing. I am 75-100 feet back of the gate. See Rockford, Il train crash in 2009 when the driver of a car that was right up on the downed gate was killed when the train derailed. Some the cars that derailed were ethanol tankers from Iowa (that still pass through Elmhurst - through residential areas and within a 1/4 mile of the high school) that started to burn and weren’t extinguished until 24 hours later. The train will always win. Thanks for the post and reminder

shop-teacher > fryguy 04/05/2018 at 10:33

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Yeah, you showed me pictures of that accident, that’s what got me to start staying back from the gates.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 10:38

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79 MPH is their standard running speed on good (welded) rail. In all likelihood the train was running somewhere right there.

shop-teacher > Urambo Tauro 04/05/2018 at 10:47

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Yeah, having that thought and seeing immediate results like that, has kept me from ever thinking that again. I would’ve been paint on the train, no doubt.

I have often wondered about the crossing gates as well. I agree that there does become a false sense of security and frustration that leads people to do stupid stuff like that. Kind of like how slow drivers in the lefthand lane think they’re making the roads so much safer, but they’re really just causing road rage and stupidity.

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW 04/05/2018 at 10:48

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I would guess so then. 79mph Amtrak vs. ‘89 Oldsmobile Toronado ... no doubt who the “winner” of that would’ve been.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 10:59

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For sure.

I made the mistake of looking for that video of the woman getting hit that I referred to earlier. I do NOT recommend doing that - - turned out that what’s on YouTube did NOT cutoff before impact.

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW 04/05/2018 at 11:08

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Yeah, I didn’t look for it. I’ve got this thing about watching people die ... I don’t need to see it.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 11:13

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No, you do not. I was expecting it to get cut off, like I’ve always seen it before.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > shop-teacher 04/05/2018 at 11:23

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As someone who was a delivery driver in the mid 2010's. I can say GPS is still garbage and hardly helps. After about a month I was much faster just looking at the map and planning my own route.

TheRealBicycleBuck > WilliamsSW 04/05/2018 at 12:14

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Yep. I’ve seen that video several times. It’s tragic.

I saw a near-miss play out in real life. There are commuter train tracks between most of the hotels and the San Diego convention center. Conference-goers are often caught waiting for a train to move so they can walk across to the convention center. I witnessed a small group decide to cross over between rail cars despite all of the people telling them to stop. They finally came to their senses when the train jerked as one woman was trying to cross the hitch. The movement knocked her on her ass. She retreated to our side while the rest of her party moved to the other side. Before that train started moving, a second train came through on the other set of tracks. If they had waited for her, they would have been hit.

shop-teacher > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 04/05/2018 at 12:20

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I still do that as well. I hate navigation systems. Every time I have moved to a new area, I spend a bunch of time wandering around and learning alternate routes. Within six months, I can navigate around the area better than most people who grew up there.

WilliamsSW > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/05/2018 at 12:43

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Man, crossing between cars is a huge no-no. That could have been tragic in a number of different ways.