samfp1943
Sometime back, around here there was a YouTube video of a Chicago Metra station that had three tracks through the station; the outer tracks were each on platforms and the center track was a 'passing track'. At at least one end of the station there was a pedestrian crosswalk across all three tracks. It of course had the appropriate warning signs about 'watching for the trains'. I think i remember that the scenario was computers racing to cross the tracks to get to the parking lot after deboarding from their commuter train, and failed to see the express, at speed on the center track, and the result was at least one pedestrian was hit by that express train.
It seems that distraction may have played a role in that accident. The back story I read said that the woman was walking with her lawyer who was representing her in a divorce. They were walking to meet her husband for a meeting between the three of them. Their view was blocked by other standing trains, so they may have assumed that the crossing signals were activated for those standing trains.
When they heard a train horn, the lawyer walked faster to get across ahead of the train, even though the train was not yet within his sight. The woman, seemingly in reaction to her lawyer, also speeded up her walking. So both of them appeard to intend to beat the train. Since the lawyer had sped up his walking first, he pulled ahead of the woman, so when she saw this, she walked even faster to catch up with him and not be left behind by being cut off by the train.
The lawyer was taller than the woman and nearer to the approaching train, so it seemed like she may just have deferred to his judgment in beating the train, and did not feel it was necessary for her to look and verify that they could make it. She seemed to be focused only on walking fast to keep up with her lawyer.
At the last instant, they passed the standing cars, and the lawyer saw the approaching train coming very fast. He realsized they could not make it, so he abruptly stopped in his tracks. But the woman apparently did not look and verify the danger like the lawyer did. So she kept going and stepped right into the path of the train and was killed.
