Seven days after the crash, the 69-year-old rode a Metrolink train again.
“I really wanted to get the fright out of me,” he said.
Slavett sat with another passenger, who provided him support as the train rode through tunnels, which he said frightens him, and the spot where the two trains collided.
Two weeks after the crash, Slavett rode the train for a second time, and he went into the same passenger car and sat in the same seat that he was in during the crash.
“I started to shake,” he said.
He wanted to ride in the same seat to determine how he landed from the back of the train to the front train during the crash.
Slavett is the lieutenant governor of Kiwanis’ Division 3, which includes Glendale, La Crescenta, Montrose, Verdugo Hills, Eagle Rock, Hollywood, Los Feliz, La Cañada Flintridge, Sunland, Tujunga and Highland Park.
Kiwanis member Laurel Patric was in Montana when she found out that Slavett was involved in the crash.
“I was really worried about Richard while I was up there in Montana,” she said.
The day of the crash, Slavett, who owns Glendale Tire Co., decided to take the earlier 3 p.m. train from Glendale to his home in order to greet his daughter-in-law, who was flying in from New York to Burbank. He usually took the 4.36 p.m. train.
He began taking the train instead of driving because gas was expensive, Slavett said.
He estimated that he would have saved $4,800 last year if the crash hadn’t enticed him back to his car.
When he boarded the train that day, he sat in the third car and last seat, stretched his legs into the aisle and took a nap.
“I was totally asleep,” Slavett said.
During his sleep, the crash occurred.
