If You See a Train, Don’t Cross the Tracks

“Derailing Illusions That Kill” says that scientists say crossing accidents can be laid to quirks of human perception, and to such things as people having their sound systems turned up so that they can’t hear outside sounds (the same thing that bedevils drivers of emergency vehicles).

In spite of all the theories and explanations, this is still a simple issue of personal responsibility. I will never be hit by a train, because when I see one coming, I wait until it passes, especially if the gates are down; and if my sound system is so loud I can’t hear sounds that may be important to my safety, I turn the thing down. To those who say that people who drive around crossing gates and get clobbered are victims of the human senses, I say nonsense. They are victims of their own risky behavior.

Bob Burket

Santa Monica