For the second time in two days, someone here in Beverly drove their car across railroad tracks and got hit by a train.

Yesterday, a Peabody woman got the rear end of her SUV taken off when she tried driving across the tracks. The gates and lights deployed a good 45 seconds before the accident (according to the story I read), but they didn't stop the woman because she was driving on the wrong side of the street.

Needless to say, she's facing a number of charges.

This morning, a guy had his Pontic turned 180 degrees when he didn't see the lights or hear the bells while driving over Beverly's only railroad crossing not to sport gates (it's on a private road; not surprisingly residents are very concerned about not having gates now). It's understandable that he wouldn't hear of see the warnings of an impending train: the driver is 87.

He's also a former secretary of the Air Force and NASA exec. I know, it's not rocket science, it's driving.

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

Not sure what's been put in the water here recently (my guesses, given the accident stories: bourbon and Ambien, respectively), but it's an odd run of accidents. Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Interesting side note is that trains coming through Beverly don't sound their own horn at crossings. Apparently, Beverly has managed to trump whatever state and/or federal laws would require it. Train horns are kind of a hot button issue here; my hometown has had a citizen's committee set up (called HORN, which stands for something too cute by half that makes you want to slap whoever came up with it), with the main contention being that train noise lowers property values.

Because, you know, you might miss that there's a train running by your house.

Considering we've also had a fatality in recent months (boy on bike not seeing or hearing train, view obscured for some reason), perhaps the value of one's McMansion isn't the most important issue here.