Oooooh I'm so mad! Today a horrible accident happened in the Alps. A coach full of school kids was struck on a level crossing by a train travelling at about 60 mph. Six (?) children were killed. It's awful.
Witnesses say the coach drove on to the level crossing after the lights started flashing and one of the barriers was already down. So the driver will hopefully be charged with manslaughter (I doubt it though). Because only a fool/suicidal maniac/psychopathic murderer drives onto a level crossing when the lights are flashing and the barrier is coming down.
But apparently the "journalists" on the payroll at France 2 think that the real cause of the accident is because of the adverse camber of the tracks, making it difficult for buses and HGVs to clear the crossing. And the fact that the crossing is there at all. The regional highways department should build a bridge, they say.
So, a tragic afternoon for six families and a harrowing time for many other parents until they knew their children were OK. And not because some complete fucking twat of a coach driver thought he could just nip through before the train arrived. But because there is a camber on the tracks. Great.
Why can't they take the opportunity to do a public service and remind the un-clever masses that when the lights are flashing and the barriers are coming down, the level crossing is the last place you want to be. Don't make excuses for the utterly negligent behaviour of that driver!!
Or are they afraid of being sued if they hint that maybe he might have made an error of judgement.
Ach! This post is just a jumble of incoherent indignation. I guess I'm annoyed that the first fifteen minutes of tonight's main news bulletin was spent sensationalising the apparent danger of level crossings, instead of focussing on the facts: man drove bus onto crossing, ignoring flashing lights and barrier, resulting in six deaths.
It's not helping with my level crossing phobia, either!
And I'm all angry at life because today I heard of the death of a colleague's 12-year old son, following a long battle with brain cancer. I know that he is better now, and he isn't suffering any longer. But it's still shit.
6 comments:
Oh, sweetie, I can't believe all that. After having that conversation yesterday about level crossings...
And sorry to hear about your colleagues son, that's awful news.
This is not a good start to your week is it? Just keep thinking about the weekend, it's not long now till you go on holiday. It may seem unfair to be looking forward to something nice when there is so much sadness around, but you are entitled to be happy, and to relax. To forget about things like this for a while. Just hang on in there sweetie.
And thank you for helping me to forget, and to relax, it did me the world of good.
You are a wonderful girl.
Jxx
What an awful tragedy - there was a brief mention of it on about page 6 of the Metro yesterday, but not more. I hate level crossings, too. And sorry to hear about your colleague's son.xx
Awful news on a number of different levels.
For the record though, you got off lightly with 15 minutes of the main news bulletin on the crash. In Spain they'd have run an hour-long special and would have many, many shots of sangre stains all over the road/coach.
Wondering if the coach driver was a French national...?
Oh, two bad news... it's upsetting.
It's not the first accident in the Alps on top of that. I remember a similar one a few years ago.
I watched all that with a chill in my heart - it was so sad. Accidents involving level crossings seem far too much of a regular occurence over here. Everytime my little Sprog goes on a bus with the school, I can't relax until he's home safe.
Very very sad.
Mya x
Hi folks. Sorry about the rant. I think I was just so angry that the coach driver in this incident appeared to think it was fine to gamble with the lives of *children*. And the death of C's son was real bad news too. He fell ill nearly four years ago, and the doctors said "three years". I know that C and her family have had some rough times, and I hope they can find comfort knowing that Julien is OK now.
Sniff.
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