# Dog drags lady on to rail tracks & she is run over



## derby98 (Feb 9, 2008)

http://www.ktvu.com/news/19662465/detail.html


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## weber1b (Nov 30, 2008)

Tragic and preventable.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

sad, she and her dog went together. Too bad, what an awful thing for everyone involved. 100# pittbull -- that's huge for a pitt isn't it?


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## angelas (Aug 23, 2003)

> Originally Posted By: selzersad, she and her dog went together. Too bad, what an awful thing for everyone involved. 100# pittbull -- that's huge for a pitt isn't it?


Likely not a pit, but a pit mixed with something else like Rottweiler or Mastiff.


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## Metalsmith (Mar 25, 2009)

How awful! I imagine it was over quick though.

100 lbs is huge for a pittie. Has to be a mix or maybe someone's trying to breed supersize pitbulls like the mixed-with-malamute humongo "shepherds" I see in the back of Dog Fancy.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Weber1bTragic and preventable.


So true...


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## Ilovealldogs (Nov 17, 2006)

I know it sounds horrible and morbid, but if I had to choose, I would want to die with my dog and die quickly. Although tragic and preventable, I would think it wouldn't be that bad of a way to die. Sad story though.


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## SouthernThistle (Nov 16, 2005)

*Re: Dog drags lady on to rail tracks & she is run over*

I think it was dumb that she and her boyfriend (I think - fiancé? I don't know) were trying to cross train tracks AFTER the bars were down, and there was a train approaching. 

I "like" how the journalists report it as "unruly dog drags woman to her death."

Unruly? No. Scared? Wouldn't you be if you had more sense than your owner and saw a friggin' train coming towards you (more than likely sounding its horn)?


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

The boyfriend crossed first - I am thinking the dog was trying to go after him. While this is a terrible thing to happen, they should NOT have been that close to the tracks with an oncoming train.

Last year in my area a woman was killed because she was walking her dog ON the tracks and was wearing a walkman - didn't hear the train. People need to be more conscious of danger.


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## SouthernThistle (Nov 16, 2005)

Based on the boyfriend's statement, he crossed the tracks, and the girlfriend and dog started to cross before they realized that they would not be able to make it. The girlfriend was heading back when the dog tried to continue going across.

Still.........arms down................train coming................don't cross.


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

Yes - exactly - my dogs would do that too - they would want to see where dad is. Neither of them should have tried to cross with the bars down. In fact, they should have backed far away from the track so as not to spook the dog.


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## mastercave (May 2, 2009)

Sometimes, I'm amazed that people can get into "accidents" against a train. It's not like it's sneaking up on you.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My thoughts exactly. No walkman is loud enough to drown out the vibrations of the rails and track! 

I went through once when the bars were down and the train was coming. It was about 3:00AM. I was out alone in the country riding my bicycle. A car was following me slowly. No way did I want to be trapped by the train. I went through and the guy following me did not. 

Splattered by train sounded better than tortured to death by serial killer. I decided to take my chances with the train.


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## pamela berger (Jun 19, 2008)

Who rides their bicycle in the country at 3:00 AM?

And why do people insist on going anywhere near RR tracks?

People need to get more responsbile.


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## Shandril2 (Nov 26, 2003)

Shame she had a dog she couldn't handle.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I do. I started at 2:00 am from Denmark, Ohio and ended at 10:00AM two states over in Dunkirk, New York. 

I do not ride in the heat of the day due to heavier traffic, and sun poisoning. 

I wait for the bars to shut down and then I go out. 

There is nothing wrong with riding country roads at night. I have to if I want to get home. 

I do not believe I should have to stay in because there are a few weirdows in the world. 

In twenty some years of riding at night, I have never been in an accident and never had any major problem. 

The cops in N. Kingsville refused to look at my driver's license and called my parents one night. And the cops in Geneva threatened to arrest me. But in both incidents the police were WRONG, and had no reason to harrass me at all. But around here sometimes girls are treated different than boys, women are treated different than men. Much better to stay in the country away from villages/cities large enough to have a police station.


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## Carol Boche (Jun 9, 2009)

I tend to agree that the dog was probably trying to follow the BF. 


Totally preventable accident, with the use if training collars (prong, especially for a dog of that breed and size, although I would agree it was a mix of some sort) and common sense.


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## SouthernThistle (Nov 16, 2005)

*Re: Dog drags lady on to rail tracks & she is run over*



> Originally Posted By: Carol Boche
> Totally preventable accident, with the use of ...*common sense*.


^ "common sense." Unfortunately, there seems to be a deficit of that.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

I am trying to figure out just how dumb someone would have to be to take their chances with a train. Trains don't come out of nowhere, they travel only on the tracks. And on most tracks, you can see the train coming from a long way away, no sharp corners or blind turns, especially at a crossing. And then there's the fact that they're crossing on a road, where there are bars that are down, and probably flashing light and that loud bell, too. Not to mention the train whistling as it goes past. 

So you get to train tracks with the bars down, and you can look up and down the tracks and see the train coming. At which point does your brain go, "You know, I should just walk across. It'll take forever for that train to get here, and I can't be bothered standing her for a minute waiting for the train to pass." And you walk in front of an oncoming train.

The boyfriend, who did not get killed, was just as stupid stepping across the steps in front of the train as the girlfriend who did get killed. The difference is, he was more lucky.

Of course, if the girlfriend had been able to control the 100lbs dog, she may have been lucky as well. What a difference a head collar or prong collar would have made, letting her control a dog she obviously couldn't handle. It wouldn't have kept her from being stupid and walking across the train tracks with the train coming, but it may well have saved her life.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

This crossing was in a residential neighborhood. I'm not disputing that what the people did was stupid, (and I'm sure that those few seconds when the guy decided to go for it and cross in front of the train is something he will regret for the rest of his life), but I'm guessing that trains don't travel as fast through the middle of a city as they do out in the country. I've driven through that part of Hayward before but I don't have any clear recollection of the area - I imagine that in a densely populated residential area the sight lines would not be all that far compared to out in the country either. 

It's possible that many people who live near RR tracks develop a rather cavalier attitude towards trains because they have to cross tracks routinely to get to and from home, and so they don't give it much thought. In this case, they made a tragic mistake and someone died.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

I have lived close to train tracks for a pretty big portion of my life.

Most recently, when I lived in Woodbridge, VA, I lived in a residential area just across from the train tracks. I trained with Abby at All About Dogs at the time, and in order for us to walk to the training facility, we had to cross the tracks twice - once from the residential neighborhood to the park on the other side, and then again to get from that side of the tracks to the training place. (It was the shortest way to get there on foot.) The training place was in a warehouse-type area, but the side of the tracks we crossed from after getting out of the local park was residential.

While the trains certainly slow down in residential areas, they're by no means going "slow", and you can still see the train coming from quite a ways off, since the train tracks are largely straight before and just after a crossing. It's not like a sudden turn or blind corner when driving a car. You really can see them coming from a ways off - and HEAR them from even further, as most trains blow their whistle/horn as they pass through residential areas to warn people at crossings that they are coming.


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## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Cassidys MomThis crossing was in a residential neighborhood. I'm not disputing that what the people did was stupid, (and I'm sure that those few seconds when the guy decided to go for it and cross in front of the train is something he will regret for the rest of his life), but I'm guessing that trains don't travel as fast through the middle of a city as they do out in the country.


Both the reporter and the article stated the train was traveling 70mph. That isn't all that slow considering.

Very sad and tragic....feel badly for her family.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Hmmm, don't recall suggesting that the train was going slow, I was merely providing context, since I live a couple of miles from Hayward. But whatever.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Wow, 70mph in a residential area? 

I have a track that runs behind my house and less than a quarter of a mile from my house, the street crosses the tracks. 

It is not a Cavelier attitude. I don't go that way because there are no crossing bars and I completely forget it is an actual crossing. It will literally kill me if I go that way. The road curves on both sides and there is very little visibility. 

My next door neighbor's son went to take his buddy home on his four wheeler Christmas Eve and never made it home. The two boys -- 14 year olds were hit by a train and killed there. I went to school with his mom. I don't think it is a Cavelier attitude. I think when you live amongst trains you tune the sound of them out and it is so much more easy to be killed by one of them.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Quote:Hmmm, don't recall suggesting that the train was going slow,


That's how it reads, though. 



> Quote:This crossing was in a residential neighborhood. I'm not disputing that what the people did was stupid, (snip), but I'm guessing that trains don't travel as fast through the middle of a city as they do out in the country.


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## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Cassidys MomHmmm, don't recall suggesting that the train was going slow, I was merely providing context, since I live a couple of miles from Hayward. But whatever.


Not picking on you and not saying you were suggesting that the train was going slow. You said you were guessing it would go slower in the city than in the country......just pointing out it was traveling 70mph....I was rather surprised it was going that fast considering it WAS going through a residential area.


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## Annikas Mom (Jun 10, 2004)

I think 70mph IS slowing down for a train, I seem to remember a police officer years ago speaking at a community meeting that while the trains do slow down in a residential area, they are still travelling at 70mph. I remember my husband and I both looking at each other and saying HOLY SMOKES BATMAN, wonder how fast they travel outside of residential areas!!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I suppose there are high speed rails in places, but generally, when I see trains they are going 35mph or they are crawling. Now and again I will see one clipping along at about 50-60mph. I wonder if Ohio has a maximum speed limit for trains.


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## lcht2 (Jan 8, 2008)

i hate to sound like the devils advocate but i dont feel sorry at all for the lady or dog. 

lady should have paid more attention and not tried to cross the tracks while a TRAIN was comeing..

just another reason why dogs need to be trained, whether its obediance or bomb detection....


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## girlll_face (Jun 9, 2009)

With the correct lead, it could've been prevented. It is so important to have a dog you have complete control over. I know it's a 100 lb. dog, but a halti, or some other kind of lead could've prevented this. He was just trying to follow dad. Who would want to play chicken with a train, anyways? They should've both waited, obviously.


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