The MBTA reports a woman was so intent on trying to light her cigarette at the Needham Center station last night she didn't notice how close she was to the tracks - and the train that was entering the station.
The woman, 44, a worker at the Center Cafe next to the platform, was taken to Beth Israel Hospital with a non-life-threatening head injury and a broken collarbone following the incident around 8:50 p.m.
According to an MBTA Transit Police report, the woman:
[W]as walking on the platform attempting to light a cigarette. While focusing on the cigarette, [she] did not notice the incoming train and walked into the side of the train, knocking her to the ground.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the woman was not cited for smoking on the platform, since the reason she walked into the train was she wasn't able to get the cigarette lit.
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Comments
Wow...
By MassMouse
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 9:20am
... just wow
See, that is the kind of
By Matt_J
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 9:34am
See, that is the kind of dedication and commitment we need more of in this world.
When you go in for a bad habit, go all in. None of this, "I just smoke on the weekends or at the bar" nonsense.
That's the American way!
And was she fined?
By coughing
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 9:41am
Isn't smoking illegal on outdoor MBTA platforms?
I've smoked cigarettes at
By anon
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:19am
I've smoked cigarettes at Newburyport while chatting with a conductor, and see others do the same.
She was not fined
By adamg
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:26am
I've updated the original post to explain why.
OK - don't fine her for smoking
By roadman
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:39am
Bill her directly for the emergency response and delay in service instead.
Go back to Texas, Ron Paul.
By Haviland
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 9:49pm
Go back to Texas, Ron Paul.
yoda*
By Dave
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 11:57am
Did you mean to type:
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the woman was not cited for smoking on the platform, since the reason she walked into the train [was the fact that she] wasn't able to get the cigarette lit.
?
*I started to type "update" into the subject line, but my right hand was over 1 key too far to the left, and I left it that way because it was mildly amusing.
Time to Quit?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 9:49am
Even though I'm not the divine omen type, maybe she'll take the hint?
Aww...
By Eighthman
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:35am
Where's the closed-circuit video??
It has the potential to be as
By Dave
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 11:58am
It has the potential to be as hilarious as the mall texter who walked into a fountain.
Every day during both my commute and in my office building
By roadman
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 12:11pm
I routinely see people so absorbed in whatever they're doing with their smartphones (Angry Birds perhaps?) that they do things like get off the elevator at the wrong floor, almost miss their stop (this occurs on both the subway and commuter rail), nearly walk into other people and objects, and blindly step into traffic.
The level of inattention some people have to their surroundings is truly amazing.
the link, for the curious
By Brett
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 1:53pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPiCeiM3Kc
Too many distractions
By justask
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 11:34am
I'm just wondering, are we so distracted as a society that we walk into the side of a train? (not all of us at the same time, but that would be funny). Well, at least she wasn't texting like the lady that walked into the fountain. Thankfully, she wasn't driving while lighting a cigarette or texting, hurting (or killing) someone except herself (which is not a positive outcome either).
Gotta love self-absorbed
By central squared
Fri, 09/23/2011 - 1:40pm
Gotta love self-absorbed smokers. Giving everybody else around them lung cancer while they walk into trains. Her only mistake was not falling in front of the train.
Hardy-har-har!
By anon
Sat, 09/24/2011 - 11:06am
Yup! (lol)
Falling in front of the train.....hmmm, that would've been a bit much, don't you think?
Gotta love self righteous people
By anon
Sat, 09/24/2011 - 9:26pm
If you seriously think she should have run in front of the train, you are a despicable excuse for a person.
Great Plain Ave
By anon
Sun, 09/25/2011 - 9:11pm
She was standing on the sidewalk on Great plain ave just east of the station
is this incident the reason
By CaT
Tue, 09/27/2011 - 2:50pm
is this incident the reason that the commuter rail now suddenly is honking while coming by my apartment? i dont mind the train, but the honking is seriously disturbing; its since a few days now, and i am sure it wasnt like this before!