I was taking the J outbound from downtown to the outer reaches of Church Street a little after 6 p.m. for a class. The ride through the tunnels was mellow, the train was a little crowded, but everything seemed to be going OK. Then we came out of the tunnel, turned onto Church and got about halfway down the block toward Market Street when the driver slammed on her brakes and a bunch of people standing lurched forward.
I pulled off my iPod to see what would happen next.
“We’re gonna be here awhile,” the driver said. She did a few more things behind the wheel, then got out — and let us off the trolley if we wanted to get going.
I stepped down and only then did I see what had happened — the trolley had hit a van that looked like it had just pulled out from Safeway Mecca. The entire front of the train was implanted in the side of the van, which seemed to only have one occupant, the driver, who looked relatively uninjured.
I debated sticking around, but I really needed to get to my class. Passengers poured down to Market Street and made their way onward, talking on cellphones and telling other people about the event they’d just lived through. I hopped on the underground to Castro and took the 35 the rest of the way.
The odd thing is, after covering lots of Muni crashes, it was almost a non-event being in one (especially since nobody was hurt). It took me about two or three hours to realize, hey, I was just in a train accident.
I really hope that van driver is OK.
– Beth W.
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are you OK?
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Awww, thanks for asking. Yes, I’m fine — as far as I know, nobody on the trolley was hurt, and the van driver seemed OK.
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Luckily it wasn’t a case of road rage. I remember riding the 1 and this bus cut off this SUV. Later as it approached spruce-ish, the SUV sideswiped the bus. I don’t think anyone was injured…
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I was on that train, too!
While I share your hope the driver was OK, I also hope that was the last thing he ever does behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Not only was he pulling out in front of an oncoming train going about 20 mph, it also looked like he was lurching aimlessly across Church St. A danger to himself and others.
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Ben — thanks for the insight. I didn’t see the van because of where I was on the train. But I figured there was some amount of ill-advised driving going on.
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