Another Derailed Driver: Woman Takes a Ride on the Reading, Does Not Pass Go

The Canadian Pacific Railroad may want to consider putting crossing gates across its own rails in Wauwatosa that stay down until a train comes through.

Last week, we reported that a man had been arrested for drunken driving .

And this week, we can report that it happened again nearby, this time at North 68th and West State streets, with a 24-year-old Cudahy woman at the wheel, who is now facing her second drunken driving offense.

According to the police report:

At a little before 9 p.m. last Thursday, a Wauwatosa police officer was in the parking lot of , 6700 W. State St., when he heard a strange noise and looked up to see a car driving east on the Canadian Pacific rails.

He said the car traveled about 75 feet before coming to a stop. He immediately called in to have a police dispatcher notify the railroad company of a vehicle on the tracks.

But, he said, a moment later the car went into reverse and managed to back off the tracks onto 68th Street and then proceed to turn east onto State Street – right in front of him.

He pulled out after it, hit his emergency lights and pulled the Cudahy woman over. She explained that she had just been at the Sentry store and had turned out of the parking lot south onto 68th intending to turn left onto State.

However, she told the officer, she didn't realize the intersection was a sharp turn. She thought it was, she said, "sort of a looping turn."

But the only thing looping was her. To accomplish her feat, she had to cross State Street completely and fail to see multiple signs, the towering raised crossing gates and, of course, the tracks themselves.

In the course of the conversation, the officer noted the odor of alcohol on her breath, glassy eyes and slurred speech.

She admitted she'd had a little to drink, but performed poorly on a field sobriety test. She gave a preliminary breath sample that registered a .167 blood alcohol level and later an evidentiary sample of .13.