Where's the outrage?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
May 15, 2011

Friday morning a truck driver drove around the lowered crossing gates and into the path of an inbound Metra train. No doubt numerous Woodstock residents were on the train. Only the truck driver was killed.

Supposedly 59-year-old truck driver Kazimierz Karasek had racked up more than 50 traffic violations, including a DUI arrest. And supposedly he had a valid driver's license. Why?!!!

A truck driver has to have a CDL - Commercial Driver's License. It's harder to get than a "regular" driver's license, and it's harder to keep. Drivers convicted of traffic violations can lose their CDL's.

How did Karasek happen to have his license after 50 violations?

Wouldn't it be interesting to see a spreadsheet of his driving history? Dates? Locations? Type of Violation? Court outcome? Fines, court costs, fees. Any supervision? How many violations did he have that never got reported to the Secretary of State? Who were the judges in the traffic courts? Did he have a lawyer? More than one?

When are judges going to start hammering repeat violators?

ABC TV-7 carried a story about the "many violations" but wimped out in terms of listing them. ABC-TV also revealed that the Metra crossing involved in Friday's crash has been the site of many other crashes. Regardless of sight-lines, if the gates are down and bells & lights are flashing, you have to be just plain stupid to drive across the tracks. If you have to stop and block traffic, so be it. But to drive around gates and across tracks? Not a good idea!