Tragic!...but I'm really surprised that this doesn't happen more often..

[2porscheguy]

'Completely oblivious': Man killed by train a grim reminder of distracted walking dangers | CTV News

We all see them everywhere we go......pedestrians wearing headphones, glued to their cellphones, often wearing hoodies to further obscure their vision...totally oblivious to their surroundings!! RIP to the individual involved but.....WTF WERE YOU THINKING!!

[sammyg2]

Darwin has a job to do too!

[unclebilly]

Did he find Pokemon?

[GH85Carrera]

To be so tuned out of the world that a train can "sneak" up on you is a new level of stupid.

[rcooled]

A similar thing happened in Oakland, CA recently to members of the band Tower of Power. I don't know if distractions played a part, but the train was going about 25MPH and probably making a good deal of noise.

"OAKLAND — Two musicians performing with the award-winning soul group Tower of Power were hit by a passenger train in Jack London Square on Thursday night, according to fire officials. Tower of Power was scheduled to play two shows at Yoshi’s nightclub Thursday night. They had reportedly been heading to the show from a nearby hotel when they were struck."

[pksystems]

I don't think it's tragic. Earth got a little bit smarter.

[2porscheguy]

Definitely On Topic here but I remember about 5 years ago I was visiting my younger sister. She's an avid runner. That evening, as she is prepping for her run, I catch her at the door as she "plugs" herself into her Ipod. I can hear the tunes blaring out from her mini headphones. I stop her..."What are you doing? You're heading out, at night, by yourself...and you'll be totally oblivious to your surroundings! Are you nucking futs! Take those off right now!".....to this day she has paid heed to her older bro's advice and has never plugged in since.....I hope?!?

[rusnak]

I used to go downtown to pick up and drop off one of my seasonal employees so that he could get to work and home without riding the bus for two hours. He lived a few blocks away from the train tracks near the rescue mission homeless shelter. He said that an average of one homeless person a month to two months gets hit by the train. Why they don't look before crossing just leaves me dumbfounded. It never makes the news. The only way that the outside world has any clue what happened is that there is a train stopped for a few hours while the case work is filled out.

[Crowbob]

It's not so dumbfounding if you consider the possibility that some are suicides.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

It's not so dumbfounding if you consider the possibility that some are suicides.

There have been a rash of teen suicides in Palo Alto, Ca in recent years, and stepping in front of a fast-moving train seems to be the preferred way to go out. Many of these kids were students at Henry M. Gunn high school.


"Starting in the spring of 2009 and stretching over nine months, three Gunn students, one incoming freshman, and one recent graduate had put themselves in front of an oncoming Caltrain."

"Two days after a Gunn High School student killed herself on the Caltrain tracks in Palo Alto, another student tried to do the same Thursday night at the same tracks, but his mother stopped him just in time.
Two other Gunn High students killed themselves on the same Caltrain tracks within the last month".

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by rcooled

A similar thing happened in Oakland, CA recently to members of the band Tower of Power. I don't know if distractions played a part, but the train was going about 25MPH and probably making a good deal of noise.

"OAKLAND — Two musicians performing with the award-winning soul group Tower of Power were hit by a passenger train in Jack London Square on Thursday night, according to fire officials. Tower of Power was scheduled to play two shows at Yoshi’s nightclub Thursday night. They had reportedly been heading to the show from a nearby hotel when they were struck."

I read that they had stopped at the tracks to let the train go by and then went to cross not knowing a train was also coming from the other direction. Sad situation.

[Grog]

What would be the first clue? There is a train rail on either side of me, hmmmm...

[DanielDudley]

I saw a dog once in the city stop, sit, and look both ways before crossing, and I thought that he was pretty smart. He was also at the cross walk. I see people walk right out into the street these days, or ram a stroller out into traffic without looking. But I also remember a kid at college getting killed in a cross walk, and that was 40 years ago. A lot of kids I knew would walk right out into traffic not knowing if it would stop, simply because they has the right of way. No texting then, although the Walkman was either out or just about to come out...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rusnak

I used to go downtown to pick up and drop off one of my seasonal employees so that he could get to work and home without riding the bus for two hours. He lived a few blocks away from the train tracks near the rescue mission homeless shelter. He said that an average of one homeless person a month to two months gets hit by the train. Why they don't look before crossing just leaves me dumbfounded. It never makes the news. The only way that the outside world has any clue what happened is that there is a train stopped for a few hours while the case work is filled out.

Many of them are quite crazy. I work downtown in Houston, and have seen many levels of craziness and many levels of impairment by various substances.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

To be so tuned out of the world that a train can "sneak" up on you is a new level of stupid.

OK, this is sad, but that's ^ actually very funny.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends went to work for a rail road company. Part of the job was to meet with the family of the deceased person to try to convince them not to sue. Another part of his job was to go to schools and meetings and present a program on train safety and try to convince people to never drive around the crossing arms. He had different levels of gruesome photos for the different audiences. He got that job only because the guy that had it for years was killed by a train while he was crossing the tracks on his daily commute to work. Tracks he drove over twice a day for years.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Some times when a freight train is backing up, it can sneak up on you. If it is straight track there is no squealing of the wheels and very little creaking. If there are other ambient noises, whether traffic, wind or ear buds/phones, you may not hear it. Cabooses are no longer common so there usually is no one at the back of a train to signal the engineer to stop or sound a caboose whistle. Many a person walking or jogging down the middle of the tracks has been overcome when a train comes up behind them.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

Many a person walking or jogging down the middle of the tracks has been overcome when a train comes up behind them.

Wha? People do this? Just wow. I hope none reproduced.

[sammyg2]

If only there was a way to predict which path a train was going to take, to tell where it was going to go. Some indication of the danger zone, any clue would help!

Here's the deal:

I usually avoid train tracks.
When I do venture onto train tracks, I look for TRAINS!
The reason I do this is because I associate trains with train tracks.
If i see a train track, I realize there is a possibility there there just might be a train coming along.
So during the time that i am on or near train tracks, I increase my level of surveillance for TRAINS.
I typically get off and away from train tracks as quickly as is reasonable so that I do not have to watch out for TRAINS.
I am fairly confident that if there is no track, there is very little chance of there being a train either.

As simple and as obvious as that logic stream seems, it apparently alludes some people.
And i have a hard time understanding that.

[2porscheguy]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Wha? People do this? Just wow. I hope none reproduced.

YES! I've seen them walking on tracks and, if you can believe it, they've got headphones on and wearing hoodies too, especially in and around Banff and Canmore, Alberta...the tracks are a well known short cut. Suffice it to say that it's also one of the busiest in terms of train traffic.....and, YES, there have been a few "accidents" too despite all the warning signs posted!....go figure!

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Wha? People do this? Just wow. I hope none reproduced.

Far too often. Here is a breakdown by state of pedestrian casualties in 2015. Of course not all were running or walking down the tracks. Some were posing for photos and other nonsense.
https://oli.org/about-us/news/statistics/trespassing-fatalities-by-state