Lake Shore Drive rescue drama continues into early a.m.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-lake-shore-drive-closed-due-to-blizzard-20110201,0,347680.story

Staff report

3:22 a.m. CST, February 2, 2011

While hundreds of stranded motorists and bus riders were rescued after being trapped for more than 5 hours on Lake Shore Drive at the height of the blizzard, for many others the misery continued.

Trapped motorists complained via cell-phone and e-mail messages that they still saw no sign that help was on the way. It was impossible to tell exactly how many were still out there.

"At least no one is getting hurt," said one of the stranded motorists, Mark Van-Veen, who at 3 a.m. said he had been trapped in his car for nearly 9 hours.

He said fire department rescuers were ordering people out of their cars and onto warming buses, and had been told those people were being taken to nearby St. Joseph Hospital.

[liberal N proud]

1. Sometimes we think we are invincible

Surely there were warnings in the Chicago area that Lake Shore Drive was going to be hazardous. I saw a warning on National News and the Weather Channel on Monday predicting how it was going to get treacherous.

First, why was the road not closed if everyone knew this was coming and Second, why do people not heed the warnings.

Sometimes it is just too dangerous for rescue crews to help.

[AngryAmish]

2. People got stuck in the afternoon

Things were not so bad back then. Actually LSD is usually plowed first. But a bus got stuck and....

[Oak2004]

3. I'm guessing the "people" who didn't "heed the warning" were the businesses

that demanded many/most of the trapped motorists come to work, hazards be damned.

My father was trapped in Chicago during a previous storm when he was a kid. He was a stationary engineer who maintained the building systems in downtown buildings. Eventually, his bosses found a way to kill him (they kept ordering him to do more and more hazardous things, trying to get rid of him before he hit retirement and collected a pension, and he kept trying. One day, trying to execute one of their outrageous orders, he fell 20 feet and hit his head on a concrete slab. No one knows how long he laid there, exactly, because among the "features" of that particular homicidal order was that he climb that 20 foot ladder to do pipe work without anyone else around to secure the ladder).

[liberal N proud]

4. That is horrible

Where was OSHA on that one?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. OSHA is a fairly recent invention.

A product of the Nixon administration, believe it or not.

[Oak2004]

8. Let me correct "he was a kid" to "I was"

(too late to fix the error)

OSHA was nowhere because his bosses put the blame on him, and his co-workers, who first told us the truth of what happened, shut up when we tried to get them on the record (they were afraid they'd lose their jobs).

It happened in the '80's, when management decided it was just too expensive to have their skilled workers collect on the pensions they were due (and I believe Ronnie, or maybe Bush the first, was in charge).

As one might expect, nothing much has changed for the better. My brother in law, also a stationary engineer, had his leg crushed in a work accident. He was determined not to be disabled, and last I heard is not allowed to use the scooter his docs prescribed for him to get around the building.

One feature of DU that I find unfortunate is that the ratio of white collar to blue collar people is so high there is a lot of unintended obliviousness about the lives of the poor and working class. I will bet almost every one of the people freezing on that road were there because if they did not go to work, they would soon be freezing outside a homeless shelter. American capitalism does not give a damn about the well being of its workers, and happily orders people into life threatening situations all the time. Very few of the people stuck there are likely to be there because they decided to take a joyride in a blizzard.

[cate94]

5. Do you know what you are talking about?

People were leaving their jobs. It was early in the storm. They were taking public transportation - which is recommended in times like these. A bus spun out ahead blocking lanes and a couple of cars ran out of gas.

Then Chicago closed LSD.

But you suggest that these people shouldn't be out? Should they have just stayed at their jobs all night? Do you watch the weather? They warn of ten inch snow falls and you get two. In Chicago you keep going until you can't. Unfortunately the people taking the fast bus got stuck in a situation they had no control over.

A nice person from the neighborhood where they were stuck came around and offered some food and water while they were waiting for help. I guess she didn't think it was necessary to point a finger at them, and offered a hand instead.

[Telly Savalas]

6. I can't recall what it's like in Chicago, but in Kansas City...

weather reporters have a tendency to freak out over even the mildest events. So a lot of residents have been trained to adopt a "yeah, whatever" response to warnings of severe weather.

If the Chicken Littles would save their meteorological doom and gloom sermons for only instances when they were warranted, people would be more apt to listen.

[Occulus]

9. Some people don't heed the warnings because their employers are cocksuckers

I fully expect discipline, up to and including a letter of warning, for not being there last night.