Many involved in this personal decision

I feel I must rebut a recent letter entitled “More unneeded regulation?” by Tom Kupferer.

In the first place, the proposed legislation is less restrictive, not more. It would allow people to cross tracks in spite of warning devices being active under certain circumstances. We have enough fools running across the tracks now, we don’t need to encourage more.

Secondly, while for the most part, the public in general is not put in danger, it does have an adverse effect on others.

The most obvious are the train engineers. They are pretty much helpless when a pedestrian or motorist crosses the tracks dangerously. If the train strikes and kills someone, they have to live with that. So does the conductor who usually has to get out and view what happened.

The train crew cannot move the train. They must be replaced with another and submit to a drug an alcohol test. Then there are the EMTs who have to collect the body parts and the police who have to document it.

While they are occupied with the accident, they are unavailable to deal with other emergencies, a public safety issue.

Anyone within viewing range is also affected. Think how the sight might affect young children.

And lastly, there are the passengers on the train who are delayed until the police conclude their investigation. That’s a lot of people getting involved in a personal decision.

Terry Tallian

Wood Dale