Perfect Candidate for Darwin Award......

[BNSF1959]

Perfect candidate for Darwin Award but man survived getting hit by fast moving train in Czech Republic.

[motormaster532]

To be fair,the guy was 77 years old so he probably had some form of dementia to just stroll through the closed crossing gates like that.However,this is a very big problem especially among the younger members of our society who hook themselves up to more technological gadgets than the Borg and then either do what that guy did or lean out over the edge of the platforms of stations.Before I got off the road and into a yard switching job Iwas almost de-capitating somebody who was texting while leaning over the edge,all the while hooked up to I tunes and who knows what else.Blasting the horn does no good because the volume of the electronics totally negates it.I have been lucky because they have pulled themselves back at the last moment.Same thing at grade crossings.Drivers,with music blaring,drive around the gates and dont see or hear me coming because they are too busy texting.If they keep that up,they will be texting Saint Peter.Sorry for the long rant,I know most,if not everybody in this forum knows how to handle oneself around railroad tracks,but just remind family and friends to be careful as well.We cant stop them on a dime and it is very upsetting to any railroader when an accident occurs that causes death or injury.Brian

[conductorchris]

In the US, 90% of rail related deaths are trespassers or grade crossing accidents. Sometimes this results in skewed safety data, for example of how safe train travel is compared to flying or driving.

Trespassers are the largest single category of railroad injuries and fatalities. 82% of them are male, which is interesting, and they tend to be low income. Almost 20% are suicides. Of those which are not suicides, 60% involve alcohol and a further 10% involve people only on drugs (Another 10% are on drugs AND alcohol, counted in the alcohol numbers).

I've seen a bunch of tresspasser accidents involving distraction, usually music and headphones (one guy killed still had his headphones on so loud the emergency responders could hear them all the way at the top of the embankment) -- but they represent only 1.6% of the deaths.

Christopher