A Tough Thanksgiving For One Person

After a good Thanksgiving Day at my father-in-law's house in Santa Paula, we left the house at 7:45 for the trip back home, and just a couple of blocks from the house came up on a nasty scene. I saw a car in the fast lane of Harvard (the main drag though Santa Paula) in the center lane with his emergency flashers on and various people at the intersection were pointing past the car. As we pulled up to the light police were arriving with lights and siren. I knew something bad had just happened.

As we pulled across the intersection we could see a crumpled motorcycle in the middle of the street and a shattered railroad crossing gate laying in the street. We hadn't heard a train go by so we were wondering if the gate had come down without warning and the bike hit it, or just what happened. I checked the website of the Ventura County Star this morning and found this:

A 43-year-old woman suffered major injuries when she lost control of her motorcycle and struck a pole at a railroad crossing in Santa Paula on Thursday night, police said.

The woman, who was not identified by police, was thrown from the motorcycle in the 7:45 p.m. crash at Harvard Boulevard near Peck Road, said Sgt. Troyce Reynolds of the Santa Paula Police Department. She was the only person on the bike and no other vehicles were believed to be involved, he said.

The woman was taken to Santa Paula Hospital for treatment.

Harvard Boulevard was closed after the crash. The pole at the railroad crossing was heavily damaged, making the crossing arm inoperable. Police contacted railroad officials to repair the damage; no trains were expected on the tracks overnight, Reynolds said.

I was relieved to hear that the victim was still alive because my first thought on seeing the damage was that it would be a fatal accident. That's not a good way to end your Thanksgiving Day, and our prayers go out to the biker.