Pedestrian Incident

[The Captain]

It appears the train one or two in front of ours hit a pedestrian.  The ENTIRE train line is shut down while they investigate.

This is the third time in almost as many years this has happened on one of the lines I'm on.  When the hell will people learn to pay attention!!!

I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for the person killed, but you know what?  Train vs pedestrian and the train will win every time.

There's easily 4,000-5,000 people impacted by this.  I can hear a lady on her phone with someone telling them she doesn't know what time she can pick up the kids.

What a mess.

[Deleted]

Around here they're usually stupid people who are either drunk or high. I just call it natural selection.

[The Captain]

I can't speak to this one (yet) but the first one I was involved with (our train is the one that hit someone) involved a bicyclist who went around  the gates.  Apparently he didn't realize the train was an express and wouldn't slow down.

The second incident involved a 34 yo woman and yes, was ruled a suicide.  

Sorry, there are easier ways to go.

[mmhmm]

Ouch! Sorry for all involved. That's bad in soo many ways!

[The Captain]

Aug 26, 2014 18:09:45 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

My BIL is train engineer and was involved in a train assisted suicide. He was devastated, despite their being absolutely nothing he could do. 

 

The train that hit the bicyclist was one I rode for several years.  It left the station at my stop (home depot) in the morning so I knew the crew and engineer on a first name basis because we frequently spoke before the train left the depot.  Like you said, they are devastated even though there isn't a damn thing they can do.  

Call me harsh, but suicide by train (or cop) seems an incredibly selfish way to go.  Go ahead, put the guilt over your death on another person.

[The Captain]

Trains are moving again (slower then normal).  Lady with the kids is on the phone again begging the daycare place to stay open until she gets there.  I'm not sure they believe her as she's telling them to go online and check the service advisory.

Am I ever so glad we always made sure either I or DH was within a 30 minute drive.

[The Captain]

We just crawled into the station where the incident happened.  They are still processing the scene.  However I saw a pair of sneakers, car keys, and a hoodie neatly folded on the platform and a cop taking pictures.  Looks like you're right @missmargarita.

I'm actually surprised they are letting trains through before they are done with the investigation.

[The Captain]

Meh, it's a couple hours of my life gone, that's all.  DD is safe and I get to hug her when I get home.  In the grand scheme of things I do feel for the poor soul who couldn't see any other way out.

The lady with the kids was able to convince the daycare place to stay open.  

[Cookies Galore]

Ugh. Suicide by train is the worst! I get done work by 4, so I really hate when people jump in front of the el at 2. You're ruining my ride, man. At least there are bus routes I can use as a detour or septa will use shuttle buses.

I was on train that hit two deer. That was not fun looking into their beady little eyes as we hit them (my stop was coming up so I was standing at the front). At least with people they completely remove the body parts and don't leave them there.

[ArchietheDragon]

some people are so selfish. 

[chiver78]

Aug 26, 2014 18:01:31 GMT -5 The Captain said:

I can't speak to this one (yet) but the first one I was involved with (our train is the one that hit someone) involved a bicyclist who went around  the gates.  Apparently he didn't realize the train was an express and wouldn't slow down.

The second incident involved a 34 yo woman and yes, was ruled a suicide.  

Sorry, there are easier ways to go.

I remember one back when I was a kid. a man and woman decided it would be quicker to go under the train than either go around or wait. don't remember which one didn't get out in time before the train started back up, but they got cut almost in half.

that was the station in the next town, and we could hear the sirens at my house. Malarky might remember this one too.

[NancysSummerSip]

We get a lot of these here, both pedestrians and cars. With cars, they go around the gates, thinking they can beat the train, or don't allow for backed-up traffic, and get stuck on the tracks when the gates go down.
With pedestrians, they are usually looking for a shortcut somewhere, and ignore the NO TRESPASSING signs, then their loved ones sue the railway authority when the person is killed.

[Waffle]

Aug 26, 2014 18:11:51 GMT -5 @missmargarita said:

My husband who is a police officer had to go out to a train vs. ped... the coroner was out there wtih him and had an interesting way of picking up the head once it was found...

I may regret asking, but what was the coroner's interesting way of picking up the head?

[Cookies Galore]

Aug 27, 2014 8:39:41 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Aug 26, 2014 18:01:31 GMT -5 The Captain said:

I can't speak to this one (yet) but the first one I was involved with (our train is the one that hit someone) involved a bicyclist who went around  the gates.  Apparently he didn't realize the train was an express and wouldn't slow down.

The second incident involved a 34 yo woman and yes, was ruled a suicide.  

Sorry, there are easier ways to go.

I remember one back when I was a kid. a man and woman decided it would be quicker to go under the train than either go around or wait. don't remember which one didn't get out in time before the train started back up, but they go cut almost in half.

that was the station in the next town, and we could hear the sirens at my house. Malarky might remember this one too.

Yeesh! My dad tells me all the time about a classmate of his having an accident on my train line. I take what septa calls a high speed line (only stops by request). Many years ago his school friend was on the tracks spray painting and a train came around a bend. He lost both legs and died the next day. Why I need to always hear this story...

[The Captain]

Since I had so much time on the train yesterday I did some research.

On average, 1-2 people are killed in train incidents each month in the area.

I guess there's two ways (or more) to look at that.

1.  Given the population density it's surprising it's not higher, or...
2.  The train tracks are stationary and a known threat, there has been a huge ongoing media compaign for the past several years.  ALWAYS treat train tracks like a danger zone and excercise extreme caution.  1-2 a month is too many.

[wyouser]

Aug 27, 2014 8:43:43 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Aug 26, 2014 18:11:51 GMT -5 @missmargarita said:

My husband who is a police officer had to go out to a train vs. ped... the coroner was out there wtih him and had an interesting way of picking up the head once it was found...

I may regret asking, but what was the coroner's interesting way of picking up the head?

Please...no video...please...

[Abby Normal]

We have it happen here too often.  The train runs right through downtown.  It goes slow, but there are always a pedestrians who try and beat the train.  Or the wear head phones and don't hear it.  There are giant signs, flashing lights and it still happens. Eventually I think they'll need to overpasses, but the idiots probably won't use it.

The brother of a classmate of my sons was killed by a train.  He was walking on the tracks with his headphones on.  Never heard it coming. Kid was 13.

[Deleted]

Aug 26, 2014 18:19:09 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Aug 26, 2014 18:09:45 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

My BIL is train engineer and was involved in a train assisted suicide. He was devastated, despite their being absolutely nothing he could do. 

 

The train that hit the bicyclist was one I rode for several years.  It left the station at my stop (home depot) in the morning so I knew the crew and engineer on a first name basis because we frequently spoke before the train left the depot.  Like you said, they are devastated even though there isn't a damn thing they can do.  

Call me harsh, but suicide by train (or cop) seems an incredibly selfish way to go.  Go ahead, put the guilt over your death on another person.

We had a few of those in 2 of the cities where I used to live. Lynn, sorry to say, is just full of stupid people who think the train will automatically stop for them or something because they're speshul or some other bullshit. Lynn is full of stupid people, "most" of my family (that's left there) excepted. There are at least 2 who are stupid no matter what.

Beverly, there were a few kids who decided that getting run over by by a train would be an awesome way to die. One of them even walked around the stupid little bar (barricade) that comes down when a train is coming just so he could get hit. Sorry but he deserved it. What he didn't deserve was all the attention afterward because he was fucking stupid and deliberately walked around the barricade. I would have slapped him silly if I could. Of course, my idea of killing myself is to get as drunk as possible and take all of my anti-seizure meds at once. Getting hit by a train just seems to messy and why make someone else feel like shit for my own decision.

[Deleted]

Oh, and Halloween in Salem is always a grand time for stupid people walking onto the tracks and getting hit. Apparently they think some Witch City voodoo is going to protect them from getting flattened. Ask Cael. She lived closer to the Salem station than me. Of course, if you're stupid enough to go to Salem at Halloween time, then you're just stupid. I did it once, for the unemployment office. Never again!!! Probably one reason why I moved.

[ripvanwinkle]

Aug 27, 2014 9:54:06 GMT -5 @anne81 said:

We just had an accident here where a woman had her disabled son on her lap in a motorized scooter.  He toggled the switch and they both went onto the tracks and died.

Anne - We must be in the same town I am.  Max line trains. We've had some where people were wearing headphones listening to music and just walk into the train coming.

[Bonny]

Aug 27, 2014 9:58:28 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Since I had so much time on the train yesterday I did some research.

On average, 1-2 people are killed in train incidents each month in the area.

I guess there's two ways (or more) to look at that.

1.  Given the population density it's surprising it's not higher, or...
2.  The train tracks are stationary and a known threat, there has been a huge ongoing media compaign for the past several years.  ALWAYS treat train tracks like a danger zone and excercise extreme caution.  1-2 a month is too many.

Caltrain (the line between San Francisco and San Jose (and Gilroy) typically has 13-14 per year. In recession years it's higher.   I seem to recall that about half of them are suicides and typically done during rush hour to get maximum attention. The other half are usually Darwinian moves; kids walking on the tracks the wrong way with headphones on, driving/walking around the crossing gates et cetera.

The train can't move until the county coroner gets there to confirm the person is dead.

Working for the railroad one develops a sense of gallows humor. One of my favorites was the idea to run a suicide train at midnight. That way people could off themselves and not mess up everyone's schedule.

BTW The Captain, I actually knew someone who killed herself on the Chicago commuter line system about 8 years ago. Apparently she had developed some kind of dementia and had been put into an assisted care facility. Somehow she escaped from the facility and deliberately went to the tracks so she would be killed. Very sad situation.

[sarcasticgirl]

During my brief time in the burbs I took the metra and this older gentleman ran across the tracks to get to my side of the platform just as a train was coming. Everyone around me, myself including, yelled "nooooo!" As he started across the track. Luckily he made it- barely and I think only because he engineer saw and slammed on the brakes. He radioed the conductor who jumped off the train when it stopped and refused to let the old guy on.
He risked his damn life to make that train and was forced to wait for the next one because if it. Rightly so, I believe.

A few weeks back I was taking the brownline home after working late and this guy opened the back door and hung off the back of the train all the way from Sedgwick to armitage, which is a pretty long stop. Apparently he was drunk and upset and going to kill himself.

Is it wrong that my first thought is anger because these a-holes are messing up my commute?!?!?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using proboards

[The Home 6]

A dear friend of mine was killed when crossing the train tracks. He was in a car, though, and it was in rural "flyover" country, so no barriers to go around. So tragic. I do agree, suicide by train is a bad way to go.

[toomuchreality]

Wow. These are some sad stories you guys are telling.
The train and commuter go through town here. Luckily there aren't a lot of deaths by train, in this area. Never really have been, I don't think.

[The Captain]

Sept 2, 2014 22:08:09 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

During my brief time in the burbs I took the metra and this older gentleman ran across the tracks to get to my side of the platform just as a train was coming. Everyone around me, myself including, yelled "nooooo!" As he started across the track. Luckily he made it- barely and I think only because he engineer saw and slammed on the brakes. He radioed the conductor who jumped off the train when it stopped and refused to let the old guy on.
He risked his damn life to make that train and was forced to wait for the next one because if it. Rightly so, I believe.

A few weeks back I was taking the brownline home after working late and this guy opened the back door and hung off the back of the train all the way from Sedgwick to armitage, which is a pretty long stop. Apparently he was drunk and upset and going to kill himself.

Is it wrong that my first thought is anger because these a-holes are messing up my commute?!?!?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using proboards

Well, then you and I can be wrong together

AND FWIW - I was wrong on the number of commuters who's schedules were screwed up, I thought the ridership number I googled was weekly, turns out it's the daily!!! ridership on my new line.

So instead of 40,000 divided by 5-6 days and reducing the number for non rush hour, according to the conductor we have daily ridership of about 40,000 with over 80% of that (32,000) taking place during the commuter rush.

[Tiny]

Is it wrong that my first thought is anger because these a-holes are messing up my commute?!?!?

Maybe, maybe not. There's typically 4 'train deaths' a year on my train line tracks (which shares tracks with frieght trains and is one of the busiest 'train corridors' in the area) There's 10 or 12 other train lines (corridors) and they too tend to have a couple of deaths a year. That's each and every year. Back just before the housing crash was a busy year - I had 10 skull and cross bones/train delay notices due to people getting infront of trains on my line.

I think some people are just stupid, high, drunk, exhausted and make mistakes. I feel a twinge of 'anger' when these people mess with my life.   I think some people do commit suicide.   I feel a bit of sadness when this happens.  

There have been 8 deaths in my suburb alone in the 20 years I've been riding the train (probably more). Two were cars going around the gates (these usually aren't fatal so there's more incidences of cars going around the gates than these two). 3 were 'commuters' who should have known better - My guesstimate is they were on 'auto pilot' or just wanted to get to work/home sooner and went around the gates or stepped around the stopped train. 3 were suicides. The suicides atleast did their thing at the start of the 'train yard' so they didn't die in front of someone's house (it's residential right up to the tracks). There may have been more... I didn't get interested in the "train death" phenomenon until about 10 - 12 years ago when I was on the platform when a commuter made a  life changing mistake. 

My 'auto pilot' is set to: "if the gates are down/bells ringing - DO NOT CROSS THE TRACKS" even if there's no train in sight. I don't EVER want to be "off in another world in my mind" and step around a gate.

[Bonny]

One of the more bizarre train fatality stories I know about is about a guy who lived here in town. He successfully appealed an eminent domain settlement with our local town (with a rather unique argument). I guess he was a super type "A" personality and tried to get to the escrow company before it closed at 5pm. God knows you wouldn't want to miss out on a day's worth of interest on $1M. Anyway it sounds like he drove around the wig-wags (crossing gates) and got hit by Caltrain. Apparently the family sued and Caltrain settled. I don't know the exact details but I'm guessing that it was probably in the $1M range. These types of lawsuits are very expensive for the Transportation District and unfortunately it's usually cheaper to settle than to go trial.

I met his widow a couple years later regarding a separate matter. But being the person that I am I felt it was important to disclose who my employer was even though it was irrelevant to the charitable work I was doing. I have to say that the widow didn't seem too broken up about his death. I suspect that he was a VERY difficult person to live with. Despite being a surgeon, they had raised 6 boys in a two bedroom house.

I think the widow was happy to be able to finally remodel!

[CarolinaKat]

Sept 3, 2014 10:40:46 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Is it wrong that my first thought is anger because these a-holes are messing up my commute?!?!?

Maybe, maybe not. There's typically 4 'train deaths' a year on my train line tracks (which shares tracks with frieght trains and is one of the busiest 'train corridors' in the area) There's 10 or 12 other train lines (corridors) and they too tend to have a couple of deaths a year. That's each and every year. Back just before the housing crash was a busy year - I had 10 skull and cross bones/train delay notices due to people getting infront of trains on my line.

I think some people are just stupid, high, drunk, exhausted and make mistakes. I feel a twinge of 'anger' when these people mess with my life.   I think some people do commit suicide.   I feel a bit of sadness when this happens.  

There have been 8 deaths in my suburb alone in the 20 years I've been riding the train (probably more). Two were cars going around the gates (these usually aren't fatal so there's more incidences of cars going around the gates than these two). 3 were 'commuters' who should have known better - My guesstimate is they were on 'auto pilot' or just wanted to get to work/home sooner and went around the gates or stepped around the stopped train. 3 were suicides. The suicides atleast did their thing at the start of the 'train yard' so they didn't die in front of someone's house (it's residential right up to the tracks). There may have been more... I didn't get interested in the "train death" phenomenon until about 10 - 12 years ago when I was on the platform when a commuter made a  life changing mistake. 

My 'auto pilot' is set to: "if the gates are down/bells ringing - DO NOT CROSS THE TRACKS" even if there's no train in sight. I don't EVER want to be "off in another world in my mind" and step around a gate.

Unfortunately not everyone's is. In the small town I grew up in, there's only freight trains. The line runs through the middle of town, and there's literally a right and wrong side of the tracks.

When I was a kid, the few gates that were there were old and in disrepair. They would go down and alarm for hours (sometimes days) even if there was no train. It was very common to weave in and out of them. It was also common for them to remain up if a train was on it's way though town...

[Bonny]

Sept 3, 2014 11:55:22 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

Sept 3, 2014 10:40:46 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Maybe, maybe not. There's typically 4 'train deaths' a year on my train line tracks (which shares tracks with frieght trains and is one of the busiest 'train corridors' in the area) There's 10 or 12 other train lines (corridors) and they too tend to have a couple of deaths a year. That's each and every year. Back just before the housing crash was a busy year - I had 10 skull and cross bones/train delay notices due to people getting infront of trains on my line.

I think some people are just stupid, high, drunk, exhausted and make mistakes. I feel a twinge of 'anger' when these people mess with my life.   I think some people do commit suicide.   I feel a bit of sadness when this happens.  

There have been 8 deaths in my suburb alone in the 20 years I've been riding the train (probably more). Two were cars going around the gates (these usually aren't fatal so there's more incidences of cars going around the gates than these two). 3 were 'commuters' who should have known better - My guesstimate is they were on 'auto pilot' or just wanted to get to work/home sooner and went around the gates or stepped around the stopped train. 3 were suicides. The suicides atleast did their thing at the start of the 'train yard' so they didn't die in front of someone's house (it's residential right up to the tracks). There may have been more... I didn't get interested in the "train death" phenomenon until about 10 - 12 years ago when I was on the platform when a commuter made a  life changing mistake. 

My 'auto pilot' is set to: "if the gates are down/bells ringing - DO NOT CROSS THE TRACKS" even if there's no train in sight. I don't EVER want to be "off in another world in my mind" and step around a gate.

Unfortunately not everyone's is. In the small town I grew up in, there's only freight trains. The line runs through the middle of town, and there's literally a right and wrong side of the tracks.

When I was a kid, the few gates that were there were old and in disrepair. They would go down and alarm for hours (sometimes days) even if there was no train. It was very common to weave in and out of them. It was also common for them to remain up if a train was on it's way though town...

I assume this is no longer the case? It's totally against the law and the railroad will get some serious fines.  If anyone sees this kind of problem please contact the FRA at www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0010

[CarolinaKat]

Sept 3, 2014 13:01:36 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Sept 3, 2014 11:55:22 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

Unfortunately not everyone's is. In the small town I grew up in, there's only freight trains. The line runs through the middle of town, and there's literally a right and wrong side of the tracks.

When I was a kid, the few gates that were there were old and in disrepair. They would go down and alarm for hours (sometimes days) even if there was no train. It was very common to weave in and out of them. It was also common for them to remain up if a train was on it's way though town...

I assume this is no longer the case? It's totally against the law and the railroad will get some serious fines.  If anyone sees this kind of problem please contact the FRA at www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0010

I think they took all the gates down and only have lights now.