People getting hit by trains
 

Every now and then on the news, I hear of some pedestrian who gets hit by a train. Not to be an insensitive clod, but how does this happen? Trains are big. Trains are loud. Crossing gates are big red and white things with bells and flashing lights. HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU NOT SEE A TRAIN COMING?

I think they're either drunk or committing suicide usually. Where I used to live there was actually someone hit by a train on 9/11, committing suicide, but since the FBI thought a terrorist was a half hour away (also on a train), this story got totally lost in the shuffle. I found out about it over a year later because a friend had lived near by. All the other stories are of people totally smashed who have no idea where they are. I'm terrified of trains when I'm outside of them because of those damn videos we had to watch every year in elementary school, you will never catch me anywhere near the tracks!

A guy I briefly dated died a few years ago when he was hit by a train. He was in Downtown Orlando for his birthday and got seperated from his group of friends. He was on his cell phone and was walking over some train tracks. His was drunk and, from what I've heard, was on other substances as well. He accidently dropped his phone on the tracks. The gate was down and the lights were flashing but he still went back to get his phone. Trains look like they're moving slowly since they're so large but they're actually moving pretty fast. I guess he thought he had enough time to get his phone. The train sent him flying about 20 feet into the air and he landed far away from the impact. I'm pretty sure he died at the scene. It was really sad and I know the greek community was really shaken by it (he was in a fraternity and many of my sorority sisters were downtown with him that night). It's sad because he risked his life for a cell phone. If he would've just let it go, he'd still be here.

There are a set of train tracks that run right through my college town. About every other year or so, someone got hit on them. My senior year of HS it was a prof's wife whose car stalled (why she didn't get out, I don't know). Sophomore year it was a drunk kid walking beside the tracks. He survived, but was in pretty bad shape.

My senior year we lived in an apartment right next to the tracks (it was a stone's throw from campus) and a drunk freshman actually LAID on the tracks in some failed "chicken" experiment like 20 ft from my bedroom window. When he tried to get up, his shoe laces got caught and he couldn't get out of the way. We heard the screams from his friends and called 911. He ended up losing both of his legs from the knee down.

Moral of the story? Alcohol + trains = horror.

See, most of these people that I hear about aren't drunk. The woman who tied up train traffic this morning for 90 minutes was apparently just in a hurry. Being drunk is one thing...being stupid is another.

A train track runs through my hometown and my college town. I can see it from my house at home, and people are stupid. They will stop on the tracks if there is a traffic jam (locals know you NEVER do that) or the tourists will put pennies on them. We also have a bridge that goes over the river, and it used to turn, so there's a big room inside it. A kid I went to high school with was walking on it, went to jump down into the room, and got stuck. It was not pretty. I think people just don't realize that even though trains are old, they can still kill you. And they move a lot faster than you they look.

There have been a lot of stories about people being hit by trains in this area of late. Today's story about someone being hit by a Metra train is one. The other day someone was hit by a freight train (he survived) in the north suburbs and last week a woman was hit by a freight train in the west suburbs. The week before that someone was struck and killed by a Metra train. Earlier this month another guy was killed after driving around lowered crossing gates (dumb). A guy committed suicide by jumping in front of an El train this week too. That's just this month!

Since we have tracks that are used by Amtrak, B-N, and Sound Transit (commuter rail) we have stories often about people getting hit. The last one was a guy who left the Mariners game and was hit by a north bound train (he and others had stopped for a south bound train and didn't wait to see if another one was coming).

Stupidity would be a good word to describe it............

last friday i got a ticket for not crossing at the crosswalk. what pisses me off is that i sat there for a good 10 minutes watching other people do the same thing while not getting a ticket. the cops were standing just a few feet away. one even warned them not to do it again. i am thinking about making a complaint that if they are to ticket people, then they must ticket everyone.

I don't know why, but the fact that there is a thread on GC entitled "People getting hit by trains" just makes me CTFU.

You know, Darwin had a theory about this.....

Up in BC, there recently were a few man vs train. One dude was walking on the tracks listening to a Walkman. HELLO DUMBASS!?!

The town I grew up in on the outskirts of Pittsburgh (does Pittsburgh actually have outskirts?) has a train track that runs right through it. Every few years someone would be run over by a train, usually because they were trying to hop on for a ride.

One happened the summer before junior high school and I remember overhearing the cop that first arrived on the scene describing to my mom how body parts were scattered from one end of town to the other.

That particular train came through almost every night at the same time and I could hear the whistle from my house. Gave me bigtime willies for years.

Re: People getting hit by trains
 

Actually, in some towns, trains are not loud and don't have "white things with bells and flashing lights." There was a case in Florida where the train that passed through the town only had a sign that said Railroad Crossing on the street. It didn't have a bar that came down while the train passed. And the train conductor was not required to blow the horn while he passed by the town. This makes for a very quiet train, and, at night, it also makes for an almost invisible train. Two young girls were driving at night and crossed the tracks and got hit. Unfortunately, they both died.

At least one student a year gets hit at Boston U. crossing the train tracks. It doesn't surprise me too much though; if you're not paying attention/really drunk, I could see how you could turn out as a statistic.