Futile pursuits

When it’s your job to write about transportation issues and something like last week’s Metrolink commuter rail tragedy occurs, it presents challenges in doing your job and paying proper respect to those who were killed or injured — and all after weeks of me making fun of Southern California’s many mass transit foibles.

There was nothing even remotely funny about more than two dozen people dying in Friday’s accident in Chatsworth and scores more suffering injuries in one of the worst rail accidents in Southern California history.

But it’s been said that laughter is the best medicine, so I tried to look past the tragedy for a moment and see the humor in at least a few things — one of them being the utter futility of trying to put together a coherent column after being thrown for an emotional loop following last weekend’s horrific rail mishap.

I was originally going to write this week about car insurance and a recent TV story about a new report released by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS). And, doing what any irresponsible writer would do, I drafted a column based entirely on “information” provided in the press release offered by the IIHS, instead of doing what a responsible journalist should do, and that’s read the report itself.

I know. I should have known better. I’ve worked in PR and know that press releases are used solely to drum up attention for a “news item,” whether or not that item is really newsworthy. In this case, when I finally read the report, I smacked myself in the head.

The report found that raising the  age at which teens can legally drive unsupervised would reduce the number of teen driver traffic collisions, thus reduce teen driving fatalities. It was at that point that I remembered I wasn’t working for Duh Magazine. Of course, incidents of teen driving accidents and deaths would be reduced if licensing were postponed! Less teen drivers on the road equals fewer teen drivers crashing. I gave myself an extra kick for falling for the flashy headline leading off the bogus “news” package.

After junking that useless idea, I decided to see what the Southern California Transit Advocates were up to at their monthly meeting. I wanted to support this organization. Its Web site www.socata.net had me convinced that I was going to like the way they did things. After all, they are “an organization created to discuss issues, disseminate information, advocate, support and encourage all measures and policies deemed necessary for the creation of a truly adequate transit system chiefly throughout the five-county Los Angeles metropolitan region,” according to the site. Aha! Here I would find all the makings of a great column.

For more than 90 minutes I listened to members of the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization contemplate where to hold their holiday banquet, then argue over a post card, which one member had created in support of “putting the elevated rail option ‘back on the table’ in MTA’s Study Alternatives for the Purple Line Extension.”  

After learning only that some members support and some oppose an “El” train option as an alternative to the proposed “Subway to the Sea,” I left frustrated and still columnless. 

With deadline looming and panic setting in, it was time to put the plan for column idea No. 3 into motion and head over to Honda of Pasadena to test drive the Honda Civic Hybrid. As one of the five best-selling hybrids in the nation, it warrants a test drive, maybe two, or so I thought.

Entering the dealership, a friendly fellow immediately introduced himself as Fred, one of the sales managers. All smiles initially, Fred’s enthusiasm waned quickly when I let him know I was there from the Pasadena Weekly and wanted some information on the Civic Hybrid for my column. In other words, I wasn’t there to buy, just drive.

Briefly disappearing into a room in the back, Fred returned to let me know that I should return some other day. They had several deals in the works that day and “business always comes first,” he told me. The irony of the huge sign reading “Helpful” plastered on the window wasn’t lost on me.

Heading home on the Gold Line light rail — angry and frustrated at what seemed to have been one exercise in futility after another  —  I was suddenly overcome with laughter. It hit me that getting all worked up over life’s little attempts to drive you crazy is just silly. So there on the train I let the laughter pour out, acknowledging the precious gift that is life.

I like to think that’s what the victims of the recent Metrolink accident — who during their lives probably had plenty of funny transit tales to tell — would have wanted me to do.

Contact Jen Hadley at jmhadley624@yahoo.com.