Noted in passing: Always expect a train

[kinzel]

Man seeks reward for stupidity:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08312008/news/regionalnews/zapped_amtrak_trespasser_sues_126902.htm

In other news:

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=8e637cb2-d28a-4141-81c6-ccf807950f18

http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8887988&nav=menu1344_2

Note -- it appears that people are being killed in train-car incidents almost daily. Please do not try to outrun a train to the gate, do not walk on the railroad tracks, do not go swimming from railway bridges, and don't climb on trains. Really.

Comments

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Fucking morons!

I'll add that city streetcars, while they are smaller, lighter, and faster to stop than mainline trains can kill you just as dead. Traffic and pedestrian signals give you useful information about when it is safe to move near tracks...ignore them at your peril.[1] And, dear gods please, be aware that your baby stroller? Can stick out several feet into the track area while you are still standing safely on the edge of the curb.

[1] There is a peculiarly helpless feeling when you have a streetcar in maximum emergency braking and a heedless pedestrian is stepping in front of you.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

I must admit to moment of ... perhaps danger ... in Denver.

It looks like the new light rails accelerate much faster than the trolley cars of old, and we'd come to a corner masked by construction work, assorted zorches,and signs ... and on our last morning in Denver while the cold was starting to work on me I almost didn't understand that while the sidewalk and road we were on were under restriction the rails were not. I got quite a start. I might have had quite a stop...

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

That man who is suing Amtrak is part of the reason why the flight I was on recently locked bathrooms when the fasten seatbelt sign was on. Grrr. I think that a 25 year old man should be held responsible for his actions. He suffered the consequences of doing something he knew he shouldn't; why should the rest of us suffer. \rant

Chicago, land of grade crossings

[wdonohue.livejournal.com]

No matter how many times local news runs pieces on idiots driving around gates or walking across station tracks in front of arriving trains, people keep doing it. Even with station surveillance footage showing accidents as they happen, people still believe it won't happen to them.

-- Brian out --

Re: Chicago, land of grade crossings

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. My suburgantrain station near Chicago had a death a few months ago (young woman, 1st day of work, didn't see an express behind the local), and the next evening some idiot got off my train and started across before the gates went up. Apparently he does that every day...

People don't believe it can happen to them, don't believe in the laws of physics (of course the train can stop in time!) and there's no way Amtrack should be considered liable in that case.

B. O'Brien

[herefox.livejournal.com]

Fatalities happen several times a year on the Caltrain line here in the bay area. Often enough that regular riders like myself tend to bitch and moan about it (a large percentage of the ones here are suicides though...I have very little sympathy for anyone who chooses to traumatize a train engineer and any people nearby while also inconveniencing hundreds of people)

I've been in a train that hit an SUV before. It was a little flat box when we were done and we didn't even feel the impact. I don't think people realize just how slow trains are to stop and how heavy they are.

Really -

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

I live in Aurora, 38 miles west of Chicago, and commute into the Loop on a commuter train.

A chunk of them are suicides. It was a fairly typical thing Wednesday a week ago - guy walked in front of an express that was going through on the middle track at 70-80 miles an hour.

I've been commuting on suburban trains for almost twenty years. You don't ever get used to either the "thump" or the "metal/breaking glass/crunch" noise. Thump is worse though. When it is a car you can hope the person got out.

The worst was one horrible month when three children around 11 to 13 died - probably one true accident and two suicides.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

And today's special wakeup call for someone...

You would think that two tracks would imply the possibility of two trains? Right? So when you get off one, and walk around the back of it to *jaywalk* across the tracks? Perhaps it might be sensible to look to your right for an oncoming? Or maybe it would be better to look ahead and to your left, in a direction that no possible hazard could come from. Or listen for the bell or whistle of an oncoming car? Not that either!

Luckily for him, I assume pedestrians are suicidal, so I was slowing to avoid him before I could see him...also, I had pointed out to my passengers what he was likely to do...so they could appreciate his little jump of surprise when he finally looked around and saw (the smaller car in my icon) a couple dozen feet away, nearly stopped.

Two tracks = possibility of two trains, and in some locations, two trains going the same direction, not necessarily at the same speed.

I know that Caltrain has gotten at least one pedestrian that way...walked around the pedestrian crossing gates and the back of the train he just go off, and got hit by the express that was passing his train...even though he would have had full view (to the left) of the oncoming train, not to mention the clearly audible (!!!!) horn.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I was a passenger in a car that almost got hit by a train many years ago. The road crossed the tracks at a spot where the tracks were lined with big old factory buildings that blocked any view of oncoming trains. The crossing gates and lights had a problem, most likely caused by rain, and they didn't do their thing until after we were on the tracks with a huge train engine blowing its whistle at us while the engineer madly applied his brakes. To add insult to injury, the gates did eventually come down and just barely missed hitting the rear of our car. At least they prevented the car behind us from being on the tracks because I'm fairly sure that another car wouldn't have made it across.

That was at least 25 years ago and crossing tracks where I don't have a good view or where I can see a train in the distance still makes me nervous. Seeing people intentionally go around gates makes me want to scream.