Snowfall in Chicago can be dangerous! When I heard the news of a storm on January 30th I started to take a sick day, but I figured so would many others and man power is already at an all time low. With that being said, I pushed myself to get to work. Soon after leaving the tunnel at Randolph; thick, white, flakes began falling and sticking to the ground. Throughout the night snow piled up and there was no sign of any removal; no shovels, no blowers and no plows. I guess they were waiting till it stopped.

After my completion of duty, my crew and I headed out on the employee access road. I was the first car and slid to the left going down into a curb. I tried so hard to control the steering when I saw where the car was headed, but it was so slippery that I did not succeed. My face hit what I thought was the driver window, but the sensors deployed the curtain airbags to shield me. It still hurt, was scary and left me dazed and confused.

My engineer and conductor checked to make sure I was ok, encouraging me to seek medical telling me I didn’t look good and that I was shaking. Guess an accident will do you like that. I called my husband to let him know what happened. I swear to you within the five minutes that I was on the phone, I had my own pit crew; they took care of me and insisted that I let them know when I made it home, no matter the time. I drove like a turtle, well maybe a bit faster and prayed all the way. The streets were bad, the expressway was bad, it was pure BAD! I saw cars in ditches, I saw accidents and I saw a lot of slipping and sliding. Took me almost two hours to get home, but I made it and it could have been worse.

Made a cup of tea, took some Tylenol and went to bed. The next day being Sunday, everything was closed. Put in a claim with my insurance company and made arrangements for my car to be towed. Rented a car on Monday and finished up my claim with the requested pictures. Explained to my job what happened and they blamed the city. At this point, I don’t care who is to blame, glad I didn’t have anything more than a bad headache and face pain. Finally got my car back February 22nd. To all of you that reached out in love, thank you.