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...