People killed while walking on railroad tracks: Idiots or "Tragic Victims"?

I recently said to someone in an online discussion elsewhere that people who do stupid things like walk on/along railroad tracks and get killed are basically either idiots or suicidal, and that perhaps this is part of natures way of getting dumb people out of the gene pool.

This provoked some fury, and the other person claimed that their friend was killed walking drunk on the tracks.

Perhaps this is an insensitive thing to say, but isn't it 100% true? Is there any 5 year old of reasonably normal intelligence who doesn't know better than to stroll along railroad tracks, and even if they did, to get the hell off at the first sound of a distant train?



I find it really hard to consider this sort of thing a "tragedy". It's just so stupid, and yet it happens ALL THE TIME, all over the country.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/29/BABADIGEST5.DTL

PINOLE
Teen killed walking on railroad tracks

A 15-year-old boy struck and killed by a westbound Amtrak train in Pinole was identified Thursday as Kevin Chao of San Pablo, authorities said.
He was hit around 9 p.m. Wednesday by a Capital Corridor train about 6 miles east of Richmond. He was not at a designated railroad crossing. The engineer saw him walking alone on the tracks, but was unable to stop the train in time, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said.


http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fra701.htm

Federal Railroad Administrator Reminds Americans To Stay Off, Stay Away, and Stay Alive, Now and In 2002

Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter today urged Americans to exercise caution and common sense when approaching highway-rail grade crossings, and to avoid walking on or near rail rights-of-way. There are more than 253,000 highway-rail grade crossings throughout the country.

...

Trespass and grade crossing incidents account for 96% of all rail-related fatalities in America. For the first nine months of 2001, there were 384 trespass fatalities, and 306 fatalities at highway-rail grade crossings. During 2000, 463 people died while trespassing on railroad property, and 425 were killed in train-vehicle collisions. Nearly half of all grade crossing collisions occur where properly functioning flashing lights or gates are in place.

More "moron killed while walking on train tracks" articles:

www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-12-trainkillstwo_x.htm
www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=59587
http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-04-09-0007.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111200791.html
inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-04-10-0085.html


If you google "was struck killed walking on railroad tracks", you will find DOZENS and DOZENS of these from across the country.

Why do so many idiots do this? I just don't get the appeal of walking on railroad tracks.

And unless you're deaf, how do you not notice a freaking TRAIN coming???!!!

He was an idiot.

But, some truly are tragic. There was a case on the news last year of a kid who got off one train, saw his mother waiting and jumped the fence to cross the other track and got hit by an Acela train traveling around 100mph. That's not being an idiot, and it's a harsh price to pay for a momentary lapse of reason.

We all know to look both ways when crossing a street. Why would a railroad be any different?

Your friend was REALLY LUCKY to only lose a leg. You almost never hear of people surviving encounters with trains.

Been away from home, was psyched to see his mom, and just plain old didn't think. That's not an offense I find should be punishable by death. One second of forgetfulness doesn't make one an idiot. How often do we forget where our keys are? :)

My buddy getting hit may be the best thing that ever happened to him. We haven't seen him since because his family has taken him away from the area, basically to get him away from his beyond evil girlfriend (seriously, she makes Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction look normal). Supposedly he doesn't even remember the last ten years of his life. Which would be a blessing.

could much shorter than people think.

some are suicidal.

the dreaded third rail, many people in the UK are killed every on train tracks by being electrocuted rather than hit by trains.

I grew up in the country and we'd walk down them to get to swimming holes and things. It was really the fastest route to get to a number of places because, face it a country road winds all over the place. RR tracks cut a straight line from point to point.

But it is very apparent when a train is coming. Hell, long before you can see or hear the train itself, the rails will start pinging.

Darwin Awards, all. I can almost see having to walk down railroad tracks if it was the only clear path, but not really. If you don't move by the time you hear the noise, you'd have to have at least a minute, you're an idiot. If you're deaf or otherwise can't hear the noise, you're an idiot for being on the tracks in the first place.

On a long-ago tape from the Press Correspondents, something called "The Tapes of Wrath," there was some raw footage from a location shoot near a railroad track. The photog and the reporter are both standing on the track. The reporter points over the photog's shoulder and says, "There is a train coming...there is a Train coming...there is a TRAIN coming!" Then, he slowly steps off the track.

There is no record of the photog stepping off the track, but since the footage made it to the tape, it's possible.

Some of us know better, some don't. It is tragic that some don't know better.

Even with electric trains (which can be pretty damn quiet) you gotta think- WTF are people doing on the tracks.

In the 80's kids were getting hit by trains while using their Walkman. I used to walk the tracks as a kid with my friends but never came close to getting hit. The railroad dicks used to shoot at us with rock salt.

Sorry, but going on about these "idiots" and "morons" etc., why on earth would you spend so much energy worrying and analyzing this? For real.

I want universal single-payer health care.

I want a fair wage for everyone, and I don't even think an upper limit on wealth would be a bad thing.

I want Presidents to be unable to wage war without a 2/3 vote of congress.

I want the poor to be taken care of, and for there to be enough good jobs so that there are very few poor.

I want equal rights for all races, sexual orientations, religions.

But I don't want every kid to have to wear a helmet and kneepads to play in a rubber-coated rounded playground, and I don't feel much sorrow for idiots who kill themselves doing idiotic things like walk on railroad tracks.


Maybe that's right-wing. I don't think most of us are all one way or another. I'm a socialist, not a liberal, anyway. I've never had much use for namby-pamby PC crap anyways. Personally, I think an excess of namby-pamby and touchy-feely is one of the things that makes liberals so weak electorally. If they were agressively liberal and coming from a place of strength, the voters might respect them more and vote for them.

Maybe that's why I'm thinking about this. Who the hell made up the rule that to be liberal or leftist, that you have to be this hand-wringing sap?

soft head.

;-)

"Idiots, morons, namby-pamby PC crap"

Yeah, we get it, you're a big ol' strapping dude who doesn't do touchy-feely :)

Again, though, why would you spend so much time overanalyzing a subject like this that ostensibly doesn't concern you?

...as well as the way playgrounds have been turned into super-safe plastic boredom zones (at least for any kid over 5).

The namby-pamby stuff is not really directly related, but I do think that liberals do give the right ammunition by trying to make society SO sensitive, SO safe, every nook and cranny of the earth handi-accessible, etc.

And there is all this emphasis on being sensitive/nderstanding. etc..

It's not about me being tough - I'm just saying that liberals in general should work at framing things more in that way.

For example, the republicans are seen as "tough", but look who they are:







They're not tough guys. Bush likes to swagger a lot, but Condi could probably wipe the floor with him if she took her heels off.

How is it that a party run by these types is seen as "tough", but the democrats, are seen as weak?

I suppose their incessant kowtowing to Bush for the last 8 years is part of it, but that perception has been a problem since at least Carter's time.

LBJ may have been a lousy president in some ways, but at least nobody ever though of him as a wimp.


Again, it's not about my ego - I'm just sick of voting for a party that always seems hell-bent on LOSING.

Also, you're from Texas so I will make allowances for hypermasculinity.

Kidding, kidding! :)

As kids we did that a lot. We were in a hilly rural area and sometimes that was the easiest path to take.

I also remember, way more than once, being startled by a train coming from behind. Depending on the lay of the land, it's surprising how close a train can get before you can here it. Passenger trains were especially spooky that way. We'd never walk on or between the tracks if we were within a quarter mile of a bend. I'd need a mile today.

I was really shocked at the number killed "trespassing", which I took to be number killed while walking.

First of all, I agree about the people who truly do get hit by accident, that is, they were not suicidal, but just plain stupid - never understood the phenomenon of a train sneaking up on someone.

But then... how many times does it happen, while driving through a parking lot, that pedestrians will walk right down the center of an aisle and I'll be in my car, right behind them, and when they FINALLY turn around to look and see me, seem to be absolutely SHOCKED that there's a car just a few feet away from them! This drives me nuts, and it happens on a regular basis, and I'm sure you all have the same experience.

Beyond the issue of why stupid people walk down the center of an aisle in a parking lot, why are they always so damned surprised to 1) see a CAR of all things there and 2) cannot ever seem to hear or otherwise notice that a running car is very very close to them. WHY????

Arrrrgh, I don't know, this species is just too confusing.

Obliviousness combined with being too self-absorbed to be aware of the world around them. That's a baaad combination both in a parking lot and on railroad tracks.

This thread is the reason I've always walked a couple feet off the tracks themselves. They're always cleared for several feet off the tracks in each direction- why walk on then instead of by them?

I've never understood it...

I was taking pictures at an art festival here in downtown Melbourne Florida, where there are train tracks going through the neighborhood. The street was closed off to all but pedestrians.

Without fail, every time a train approached, it would sound a whistle, the crossing bells would start, and people would gather onto the tracks to look for the approaching train, until the nearby police forced them away.

...and loses far fewer people. The author of the article (probably Los Angeles Times) seemed to think that our habit of running train tracks across sidewalks and highways was responsible for a lot of deaths of people who think they can outwalk or outdrive a train at a crossing, not really understanding the laws of physics as they relate to a massive object than can take up to a mile to come to a stop.

It certainly gave me something to think about.

Hekate

She was walking on the tracks and texting.



I honestly don't know what to say about that.

but you'd think a deaf person would be that much more cautious about train tracks...

:shrug:

go through when these types of accidents occur. Regardless of the stupidity or ignorance that causes any individual, child, adult drunk or whoever is on the tracks walking, the trauma and mental anguish of the engineer who sees what is about to happen, who has frantically been blowing the whistle trying to warn the vehicle, person or anyone that the train is approaching is devastating to him and his family. Anyone with any conscience or compassion does not want something like this to happen. I think sometimes it is someone just walking down the track and has their ipod on maybe too loud and the soundproofing of vehicles now days, inattention such as talking on the phone, everything plays into this including possible suicides.

Regardless, it is tragic all the way around.

...while talking on her cell phone.

I've never understood the attraction of walking along train tracks. Are they shortcuts? Is it some kind of romanticized version of just ramblin' along and seeing where the road goes? And why is it that some people who get fucked-up drunk somehow migrate to them? (I swear, almost all the train-track deaths where I live involve high alcohol content.)

Jeez. What a way to go. And now I can't help but that the train scene from "Stand By Me" running through my head, which, no matter how many times I see that movie, still scares the living shit out of me.

We're wimps. Look in the back pages of any issue of Popular Mechanics from the fifties and you'll see an attachment you can buy for your bicycle, a runner that'll space it out correctly for train tracks...so you can ride along the tracks. Back then, they didn't need to mention that if you didn't remove your bike from the tracks when a train was approaching, that it would kill you.

And everyone was taught to look both ways before crossing the street.

Why doesn't that common sense mentality apply (for some folks anyway) to other so-called "dangers" in daily life...where's the common sense?

Maybe we should start explaining to folks that every single day of life also includes an element of risk, and that they have the capability of reducing that risk greatly by simply using their brain and considering the possibilities of what COULD happen...encouraging everyone to use a wee bit of common sense.

I see it all the time, in how people drive, in pedestrians.

How many times do you see people driving down the middle of the road, (rural back roads mainly), instead of in their lane?

How about pedestrians starting to cross the street who looked shocked that cars are actually driving there? Kids riding their bikes, walking down the middle of the road. People not walking on sidewalks, people biking on sidewalks.

What the frak is going on nowadays? Why do we seem to care so little about ourselves and other people? I just don't get it...

The internet seems to close the distance between ourselves and events so that we get to be aware of tragedies thousands of miles away from home, but it's done nothing to close the gap on how willing we are to call a stranger, even a dead stranger stupid.

A tragedy caused by stupidity? I do think it's sad that people have died this way. It's so unnecessary.

And go around the barriers to cross the tracks.

It's unfortunate that they will be defined by their very last action-- a not very bright one. But to define a person by one action is inherently unfair.

Haven't we all of us engaged in a rather idiotic (at best!) decision at one point or another in our lives? And to be defined by that would be perceived as rather unfair I imagine. So, if we can fairly be defined by this one, regrettable action, then we are all of us "basically either idiots or suicidal"

We all want to be defined by the sum total of what we've done, what we believe in, what we care about etc. rather than by merely one action. And other than the fact that this action was the victim's last and the cause for his death, there's not really any relevant moral difference between it and the stupid choices we make every day.

...I'm 38 years old. I have been dhearing these "so-and-so died on the railroad tracks" news stories over and over and over for as long as I can remember. Growing up in El Paso I heard it. In San Diego. When I lived in Japan - I NEVER heard it (go figure, and they have TONS of trains and train tracks but people don't walk on them there!) In Miami, and in San Francisco I heard it.

It must be that everybody else has heard these news reports too. And yet they STILL walk on the tracks. WHY?!?!?! I just don't get it.

A momentary lapse of reason is driving your car home after 3 beers and getting pulled over for swerving. Kinda dumb, but most people have felt like they could pull it off after a drink or two. But walking on a train track? NOBODY wins in a game of chicken with a train. It really does boggle my mind.

For the same reason people still go drag racing...

When I was younger, I'd heard about deaths resulting from drag races over and over again and yet still engaged in it myself. It does boggle the mind who we sometimes feel as though we're immortal-- that it can only happen to *them*, but never to *us*...

...walking on railroad tracks? Doesn't strike me as the least bit fun/thrilling. Just pointlessly dangerous.

:shrug:

What may be fun and thrilling to one person (extreme sports, hang gliding, motor cross etc) is pointlessly dangerous to others.

It's simply a subjective interpretation as to what is entertaining vs. what is pointless or dumb.


Edited because I'm cutting down of coffee-- and it's evident...

This is despite the fact that Japan has far more train tracks running at ground level through populated areas than the U.S. does.

Do we even have a word for "fumikiri," which is a footpath across train tracks?

Perhaps Japanese schools and parents are more conscientious about warning children about train tracks. Then, too, if you live in a neighborhood where commuter trains come through every three to five minutes during rush hour, you're not even tempted to walk on tracks.

I can see following the tracks, i.e. walking alongside them if you're lost out on the prairie or if a rail trestle is the only way to cross a river or ravine (I'd still hesitate to do that), but just walking ON the tracks when there's perfectly good ground to walk on? No way.

When the Westside light rail line first went in in Portland, there were about five incidents of people getting hit by trains. The anti-rail crowd crowed about "killer trolleys," but really, all you have to do is to teach people to treat railroad tracks as if they're a street.

I grew up with a railroad track running immediately behind our elementary school. On the other side was the high school. So at least half the kids attending each school had to cross the tracks every day. Few kids were bussed to school so most of the younger kids walked.

I never remember anyone getting hit by a train in that town, even though tracks pretty much circled the older parts and all the newer areas were on the other side of the tracks. Even when there was a derailment in the middle of town no one was hurt.
Because of the proximity, every child was taught about safety around the tracks and we all had great respect for the inertia of the trains - ore hauling freight trains take even longer to stop than passenger trains, even at slower speeds.

Maybe it is what dangers are perceived by people. Parents today perceive that strangers and internet stalkers are a danger to their children but maybe do not perceive trains as being as dangerous. That does not explain the idiots that drive or walk out in front of cars while chatting on a cell phone, but those dangers are relatively new to our society.

thank you

the whole story put heard they were "messed up" on something, heard the train, jumped aside to the other track (they were on a RR bridge) didn't hear/see the 2nd train.

can sneak up on people, so they have to be otherwise impaired: drunk, preoccupied, or maybe they can't hear. I grew up around train tracks. You learn to respect their authority. I don't remember anyone dying on the tracks in my hometown during my childhood.

and I am amazed at the number of pedestrian and vehicle accidents with trains that happen.

When I was young, my parents taught me to never go near railroad tracks - that's what I teach my kids.

As safety-conscious as I am though, I was almost a victim of a train collision last week. Between my house and the main road through my town, I have to cross two sets of track - neither is marked with lights, bells or a barrier. I always stop and look, but being in a hurry, I just tapped the breaks, glanced both ways and hit the gas - and avoided being creamed by the train that I didn't see by mere seconds. I was stupid and almost got my family killed.

Be careful around the tracks people!

when I worked in a rail yard, trains came in, then were broken up, reassembled into outbound trains. Railcars were shoved, then allowed to roll unattached to an engine. Those are silent, and in the night fog, very spooky. When you felt the ground shake, you had to make sure you were not between a set of rails. The cars would come out of the gloom, big as houses, and roll past, maybe a few inches away. Surreal moments.

A few guys did a good job teaching me the safety aspects of rail yards, what to pay attention to, etc. To get surprised by a train while walking on the tracks requires a high degree of oblivion - like an ipod on full blast. I hope these accidents are rare.

He had too much to drink and decided to walk home by following the railroad tracks. There are a lot of people who do that drunk or sober.

and zero tolerance policies typically cause more problems than they are intended to fix.

Trying to sum up a lot of different deaths into one cause (i.e. moron) just because of a seemingly common denominator is, in itself, moronic.

To start with walking on tracks versus crossing tracks versus parking/stalling on tracks are all different sort of events. Plus, even within those categories there are other factors....singal crossings versus not, double tracks versus single, tracks in remote area versus rail yard, noise pollution versus not.

When I was a kid we walked hours along the tracks. I lived in the country. Those hilly, curvy country roads have no sidewalks and virtually no place to walk off the road. Walking along the tracks was really much safer.

Think....railroad tracks exist in a lot of different environments.....

...against capitalism and the oil industry.

Oh, and how can you not get the appeal of walking on railroad tracks?

Walking On Railroad Tracks: An Appreciation
#10. if it's in a deserted area, you can walk around without pants
#9. you meet the most interesting people who also walk on railroad tracks
#8. walking on railroad tracks is actually a religion, don't hate
#7. walking on railroad tracks helps improve counting skills (count the wooden planks, hobos, etc)
#6. if walking on railroad tracks is wrong; I don't want to be right!
#5. I'm sure Lewis and Clark walked on railroad tracks
#4. if they're not for walking on, what are they for? Seriously, what are they for?
#3. my taxes have paid for railroad tracks. If I'm not allowed to walk on them, I'm just wasting money.
#2. walking on railroad tracks is not a gateway to dancing on railroad tracks, stop hating
#1. I'm not walking on railroad tracks, I'm actually a very slow, fleshy train.

Thank you for allowing me to post my homage to walking on railroad tracks.

Cleans up the gene pool just a little.

Thank goodness your genes are still here to perpetuate a stronger class of human being! :eyes:

Victims? I guess. They're at least victims of a tragic lapse in common sense. In this kind of case, it costs them their lives.

But people have lapses in common sense every day, leading to all kinds of mishaps. In fact, everyone has had a lapse or a hundred...it's called childhood. Most of us survive it...some don't. But it doesn't stop there, otherwise we wouldn't need insurance. Is it the degree of the mishap that makes one an idiot? Everyone does dumb stuff on occasion. Therefore, everyone's an idiot. We just shine a light on them when the price they pay is the ultimate one.

You are insensitive.

Let me ask one question though.

Just because you are "dumb", is your death less tragic to those who loved you?

and I still do on occasion. I've never come close to being hit by a train. I have had friends killed by crossing railroad tracks at the wrong time - I don't know if they had the radio on and didn't hear, or what.

I think that some deaths on tracks are suicides. Others are caused by drunkenness. I suppose that some are caused by simply not hearing the train (???) or maybe not realizing how fast trains move.

In many parts of the country walking on railroad tracks is a part of our heritage. I know that sounds odd, but unless you've done it yourself, you might not realize. You can step on a railroad track and within minutes you are in the middle of fields with nobody for miles - just you alone on this shining silver path that goes to eternity in both directions. It's a remarkable experience.

Of course, I'm not really recommending it. It's dangerous and technically illegal (trespassing) - but....

i'm also guessing that ipods and the like might be playing their part in it too- after all, even walking on the tracks, it's pretty difficult for a train to "sneak up" on you.

:nuke:

The train is already running over people at the back of the line and our leaders are saying "Huh? What? I don't hear anything, and neither do you. Here, have $600, turn up the music, and God Bless America."