I survived a train wreck this morning.

[Anonymous]

Quite literally. I was a passenger on the lead car of this train: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=716&e=12&u=/nm/20030106/ts_nm/transport_crash_dc It did a 180 degree turn and ended up on its side after hitting a big pickup truck on the tracks (maybe a Ford F350? Hard to tell looking at the crushed wreckage). I've got some very big bruises and, but otherwise I checked out OK. Nobody was killed except the truck driver. If you look through the pictures Yahoo has, the woman in the black jacket and blue top holding her bandaged head was sitting right behind me. I even gave her some tissues I had to hold on her bleeding head wound before the paramedics arrived. The woman sitting next to her had a broken arm. I am EXTREMELY lucky to have walked away, and have been busy thanking God, lucky stars, and anything else I can think of.

Right before the wreck, I had just sat down again after putting some papers into my bag nearby. I put my feet up on the opposite seat to push myself back a bit, and suddenly there was a huge bang. No horn, no screeching of breaks, just the impact. The train car immediately derailed and started shaking violently as it plowed through the dirt, gravel railbed, and railroad ties. Because of how I happened to be sitting, I was able to jam my legs into the seat across from me and clamp myself in place for about two-thirds of the wreck. Flames started lapping into the broken windows ahead of me (from the truck I learned later), and I was pretty sure I was doomed. I finally got bounced out of my seat onto the floor a few seconds later when the flames went away. When the car overturned, I fell onto a portion of the wall with no windows, losing my glasses, but safe from the broken windows as the car continued to slide. Once the thing stopped , I picked up my glasses from next to me, and to my great surprise was able to stand right up. Things were chaotic & dusty inside, but I quickly called my wife to tell her I was OK (since I knew she would see media reports and worry), then started helping the people near me as best I could. The Burbank Fire Department had paramedics on the scene in four minutes. Another gentleman opened the doors that were now in the roof, and we were able to climb up & out as the paramedics took over the scene. We were hurt, but low on the triage priority, so it was a lot of standing around in disbelief before finally going to the hospital to be checked. Those of us standing there guessed the train slid about a quarter mile from the point of impact - one media report estimated 1000 feet. They checked my back and kidneys at the hospital, but everything was OK so they sent me home.

It was a surreal experience, and I am very happy to have been spared any major injury.

Gaming related note: One of the injured guys strapped to a spine board was wearing a Game Skins shirt. This one (http://www.game-skins.com/gssh019.shtml).

[Supertanker]

That was me, failing to login.

[Dave Long]

Wow...really glad you're ok, Supertanker. Those girls need their daddy. That looks positively heinous.

--Dave

[Bullhajj]

Jesus, Supertanker. Thank goodness you weren't hurt!

So, trainwreck, no injury... You sure you're not a superhero? Stay away from the pool!

[Kevin Perry]

Wow. Glad you're OK, 'tanker.

One for the memory books, I'm sure.

[Gordon Cameron]

Well, I was beaten to the "Unbreakable" reference so I'll just echo, glad you're okay. :shock:

[Lunch of Kong]

To all you bad drivers out there: Don't try to beat the train.

[Sean Tudor]

That was me, failing to login.

That was a close call - glad your ok. No thanks to the impatient moron in the truck. Oh well he received the unkindest form of justice - death.

[Anders Hallin]

Good to hear you're alright, Supertanker.
Did you get to talk to a psychologist or similar? Because I'm pretty sure you can get post-traumatic stress syndrome or something like that from such events, so you might start crying or something without expecting it.

[Bub, Andrew]

Yow, glad to hear the Supertanker of Love is merely bruised! Congrats and escaping relatively unscathed. (Side Note: Funny the things you notice and remember, re: your reference to the Gameskins shirt.) We're very happy for your family and wish you the best in coping with this. (Aside: you're the first LA resident I've met who actually rides the train - and I grew up in the LA area.)

I confess, initially, I had actually stopped reading the message simply because it was from an anonymous 'Guest'. Does that make me a bad person?

[Sparky]

The truck was hit after driving around closed gate arms in a bid to beat the train
Why do people do this? WHY? Is it some sort of unconscious, lemming-like death wish?

Glad to hear you're okay, Supertanker. And take it easy - you'll probably feel like The Human Bruise for awhile. :(

[Rywill]

Whoo dogger, allow me to add my relief that you're okay. Do be ready for stuff like nightmares, though.

I'm glad there aren't any street crossings on the Red Line :)

[DennyA]

Dang, SuperTanker, glad you're okay.

Mortality sucks any way you look at it, but when you have kids, that "staying alive" thing suddenly seems way, way more important than ever. Glad your little ones had dad home tonight.

[Anonymous]

No wonder the train went off the tracks; it had a huge fucking supertanker sitting on it. What were they thinking?

[Jason Levine]

Supertanker, Supertanker, Supertanker ... You call yourself a member of the legal profession? I read your post and I see things like you giving that lady with the head bandage tissues, but nowhere do you say that you gave her your business card :!: Desslock and I might just have to kick your butt out of here.

Seriously, I'm happy you're back with you're little ones in one piece. Your post caused me to get up and give my kids a hug.

--Jason

[Sparky]

Your post caused me to get up and give my kids a hug.
Huh, I got up and gave my copy of Railroad Tycoon II a hug. But I don't have any kids...

[Anonymous]

Your post caused me to get up and give my kids a hug.

I just tugged on my limp penis a few times and sighed while waiting for Joe Millionaire to come on.

[wumpus]

Jeez. Very Fight Club. I'm glad to hear you and most everyone else escaped serious injury-- except the jackass who caused the accident.

[Jason McCullough]

Wow, glad you're ok.

[chet]

Bub, I did the same thing. Then I read the article on yahoo and just stared at the pictures thinking - it looks so warm there.

Chet

[Bub, Andrew]

I also admit, when I first clicked on the thread title, I thought to myself:
"You survived the Packer game last Saturday night?"

[Qenan]

Glad you are OK, Supertanker. Prayers for the injured.

[Bullhajj]

I also admit, when I first clicked on the thread title, I thought to myself:
"You survived the Packer game last Saturday night?"

Lol, same thought crossed my mind. With all the wild football the last few days, I was just wondering which game it was going to be.

[Oppressor]

Quite literally. I was a passenger on the lead car of this train: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=716&e=12&u=/nm/20030106/ts_nm/transport_crash_dc

I live within hearing distance of said wreck... Wow... It's a small world...

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

That was me, failing to login.

whoa!!! glad you made it man!!!!

[Erik]

Funny that the crash occurred just one day after you broke the Microsoft OS upgrade conspiracy story.

[Kyle Wilson]

Why do people do this? WHY? Is it some sort of unconscious, lemming-like death wish?

Think of it as evolution in action. One man dies, and the average IQ of the human race goes up by a tiny fraction of a point.

[DavidCPA]

That was me, failing to login.

Hell, I thought this might be a joke since a guest posted it, but I guess not. Congratulations on surviving a close one.

-DavidCPA

[Anonymous]

Really glad to hear you are ok Supertanker. It is scary to think about that happening.

-- Xaroc

[Xaroc]

Yes, that was me.

[Supertanker]

Thanks for all of the well-wishes. I'm sore as expected, but that will pass. I hope the other folks involved heal up quickly, and I feel sorry for the family of the truck driver. I'd like to slap the idiot that caused this, but I do feel a little bad for him since death is a pretty high price to pay for being stupid. At least nobody else was killed.

The funniest part has been telling people about it to explain why I missed meetings or something. "Train wreck" is such a common euphamism for some big problem, and actual wrecks are so rare, it takes a fair amount of explaining to convince people that is actually what happened. Then they feel bad for being flippant, so I have to reassure them I'm not offended.

My wife and I were interviewed by the LATimes as we left the hospital, so if you scroll down about two-thirds on this story, you'll find my real name, Brad Wohlenberg (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-crash7jan07001441,0,1767277.story?coll=la%2Dheadli nes%2Dpe%2Dcalifornia). I also turned down an offer to be on The Early Show. I would have had to be back in Burbank by 4am for a 6am appearance, and the lure of TV news is not great enough to pull my aching body out of bed that early.

Regarding attorneys & ambulance chasing, I got my first call from a capper* at about 3:15 yesterday. That's less than six hours after the wreck. Man, those weasels move fast.

Finally, apparently the accident affected my ability to spell the word "brakes." Dang uneditable guest posts.


*Capper is a term for a person that solicits clients for a lawyer. It is against California law (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=06001-07000&file=6150-6156).

[Jakub]

Thanks for all of the well-wishes. I'm sore as expected, but that will pass. I hope the other folks involved heal up quickly, and I feel sorry for the family of the truck driver. I'd like to slap the idiot that caused this, but I do feel a little bad for him since death is a pretty high price to pay for being stupid. At least nobody else was killed.

Death is an excellent penalty for stupidity. Evolution is progressing slow enough as it is thanks to modern science.

It's just too bad that his stupidity injured so many people who didn't deserve it.

...

But seriously, I feel bad for everyone involved. From the guy's simple, if stupid mistake, to everyone on the train involved. Except the lawyers and insurance companies. They're going to make money some way, they always do.

[SpoofyChop]

Death is an excellent penalty for stupidity.

I guess you were kidding and all...but actually there was an episode of ST:TNG where Wesley falls on some plants and the braless and loincloth wearing inhabitants of the planet the crew is visiting want to execute him.

Turns out that there's a pan-dimensional super space station that is big-brothering the Nazi inhabitants. Sort of a Super-Nazi-Space-Based-Big-Brother. (Somebody should make a Wolfenstein game about that incidentally.)

Anyway, Picard eventually has to not only argue to the thuggish morally backward jackasses on the planet that they shouldn't kill Wesley for falling on their precious beans, but also has to convince the All-Powerful-Ultra-Super-Fascist-Big-Brother-Rotatingfornoreason-Space-Lords to let Wesley go.

Long story short, Wesley is spared and the Federation's super-courageous response to all this is "let's set up a beacon and warn passing ships not to be fooled by the loin cloth wearing and nice weather having murderers."

Personally, I'm much happier with John Ashcroft and grade crossings (http://www.oli.org/) as some of the top hazards in America than I would be with libidinous sociopaths and Space Lords, but that's just me.

[Rywill]

Death is an excellent penalty for stupidity.

I guess you were kidding and all...but actually there was an episode of ST:TNG where Wesley falls on some plants and the braless and loincloth wearing inhabitants of the planet the crew is visiting want to execute him.

Turns out that there's a pan-dimensional super space station that is big-brothering the Nazi inhabitants. Sort of a Super-Nazi-Space-Based-Big-Brother. (Somebody should make a Wolfenstein game about that incidentally.)

Anyway, Picard eventually has to not only argue to the thuggish morally backward jackasses on the planet that they shouldn't kill Wesley for falling on their precious beans, but also has to convince the All-Powerful-Ultra-Super-Fascist-Big-Brother-Rotatingfornoreason-Space-Lords to let Wesley go.

Long story short, Wesley is spared and the Federation's super-courageous response to all this is "let's set up a beacon and warn passing ships not to be fooled by the loin cloth wearing and nice weather having murderers."

Personally, I'm much happier with John Ashcroft and grade crossings (http://www.oli.org/) as some of the top hazards in America than I would be with libidinous sociopaths and Space Lords, but that's just me.

:shock:

[SpoofyChop]

I guess my point was twofold:

1) Death is not an excellent penalty for stupidity and
2) Even Captain Picard knows this.

[Ben Sones]

Strange but true: Space Lords live in my closet.

Congrats on surviving the train wreck, Supertanker! It sounds like it was pretty scary.

[Brian Koontz]

Death is an excellent penalty for stupidity. Evolution is progressing slow enough as it is thanks to modern science.

If you want to help out, you could carry a sub-machine gun and an IQ test. Just remember to hide the gun until the results come out... they tend to get suspicious otherwise.

You'd best restrict your visits to schools. Gotta get 'em before they breed after all.