Unlucky? Yes. Stupid? Definitely.

[Tom]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4498570.stm

Honestly, people ignore red lights and barriers, get whacked by a hulking great big train, and then people suggest 'safety improvements'?

I know its an emotive call, but how about suggesting some fucking intelligence instead?

 

[mank!]

you insensitive ****

 

[Draylor]

Level crossings + stupid people are a disaster waiting to happen.

Its proven on a regular basis.

Wasnt there a thread almost identical to this 6 months or so back?

 

[Krazeh]

It may sound heartless and insensitive but I'm finding it hard to have any sympathy about it. If you wanna take the risk of running across a level crossing when the barriers are down then fair enough but you also take the chance of gettin run down by a train.

 

[tris-]

idiots imo.

its a pretty easy thing to work out -
-a mahoosive train is steaming towards you
-it only has one direction it can go
-its gonna take nearly a mile to stop
-barriers are down
-lights flasing
-bells ringing

now there is 2 solutions
-cross track
-dont cross track

He said his daughter was not the only one who had tried to cross the track with the pedestrian signals still at red, as most days commuters could be seen running across in an attempt to catch their train.

i think this town has serious issues. re-education and locking them in their homes maybe a good start.

 

[WPKenny]

I don't understand how people can get hit by trains without being physically stuck to the track.

Who steps onto a road/railway/whatever without looking to see if the way is clear?
It's not as if trains are small quiet things now is it?

I just don't understand it. I wouldn't be surprised if the news came out that it was a suicide attempt.

 

[Gray]

I was thinking the same then... the picture of the track shows that it was in open view...

Who "dares" to try and cross when a train is coming through at 100mph+? Its just like Road Saftey, green-cross code etc etc...

 

[tris-]

if bells, flashing lights, barries and 100mph trains arnt enough to deter youn then all roads should also be built with 100ft high steal walls with guard towers on top.

 

[JBP|]

Its just like Road Saftey, green-cross code etc etc...

Well thats just it. There is no road saftey these days.

If a pedestrian steps out infront of a car its the drivers fault and if said pedeastrian dies the driver could be looking at 5-10 years in prison.

This is clearly the train drivers fault for being there in the first place.

 

[throdgrain]

Whilst in a way I agree with Mank to be honest, and well recall the thread about the two (three?) poor girls whose car broke down on the motorway, and who panicing got out of the car and got run over, and the holier-than-thou bullshit spouted by some morons on here, I do have to agree with the point regarding the signs, , i.e being alive at all should carry a health hazard, and if you're not careful and obey such warning signs its likely to be a short life.
Perhaps this should be put in maternity wards, a sign on the wall

-BEING ALIVE AND IGNOREING STUFF CAN FUCK YOU UP-

thus absolving anyone of any further responsibility.

 

[DaGaffer]

Its not always the driver's/pedestrian's fault. I read about this one in the US last week; the barriers closed and the cars had nowhere to go, result, carnage. One train took out a dozen cars.

 

[ECA]

This is like someone running across a motorway and their relatives bitching about them getting hit.

Or jumping off a bridge to dive into the water below, only below is a concrete motorway.

 

[Furr]

Its not like trains are quiet!!! and to be honest in this case i can't see extra alerts doing any difference, they obviously tried to cross the tracks as the train was comming, didn't realise how fast it was going and subsequently a horrible accident happened.

 

[Louster]

Incidentally, for all those wondering how they didn't notice the oncoming train: one of the reports (I'm not sure if it was that one as I've only skimmed through it) mentions they were trying to catch a train that was waiting in the station, so I'd imagine that the stationary train was blocking their view of the other track, and similarly so with its 'idle' noise. I think this is pretty much the only explanation that makes sense.

 

[WPKenny]

Makes a little bit more sense but they're still dumb for not looking before they stepped out.

 

[JingleBells]

Incidentally, for all those wondering how they didn't notice the oncoming train: one of the reports (I'm not sure if it was that one as I've only skimmed through it) mentions they were trying to catch a train that was waiting in the station, so I'd imagine that the stationary train was blocking their view of the other track, and similarly so with its 'idle' noise. I think this is pretty much the only explanation that makes sense.

Not according to the diagrams in the paper, or the pictures on the tele, here's a rough sketch:

(Sorry couldn't find diagram online)

 

[Louster]

It seems plausible that the reason they stepped out was to get a look, and just happened to step out at the worst possible moment. The whole thing's fundamentally dumb, but it's also understandable I think. People get complacent because being paranoid about every little thing that could go wrong isn't cool - and this complacency can obviously be misplaced.

I don't know if you've ever stood at a crossing waiting for the barriers to go up while there's a train waiting nearby? The noise it makes drowns out almost everything, and if a train does speed past while it's waiting there it can come utterly by surprise, as it's kindof automatic to assume that you'd hear one coming (and you don't). I'm not saying this is something any sensible person should do, of course, but maybe their sense of 'it's cool to be complacent' was reinforced by there being two of them, the fact that they were in a rush, and the fact that they couldn't hear or see anything immediately suggesting an oncoming train.

Meh.


Edit RE: JingleBells: well, if that IS the case then I don't know what happened, and the understandability goes out the window, assuming there wasn't anything stopping them from just looking down the track beforehand. I dunno.

 

[GDW]

I have some thoughts on this.

We are talking about to young immature girls here, right? Yet everyone appears to be comparing them to an adult. It sounds to me from reading this story that this sort of thing was done by adults on a regular basis at this crossing. They were two kids who took a chance because adults did it and therefore it should be OK.


Also when a close member of the family is suddenly taken away from you in an incident like this your going to be pretty pissed, right? What do you want him to say... "My daughter was stupid and it serves her right"

All he is doing is raising safety issues so it doesnt happen again, is that such a bad thing to do?


Crossings are dangerous places, so anyone who tries to raise awareness of this fact and anything done as a consequence to improve their safety record gets my support.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

If they can drink like adults they should behave like adults.

 

[Tom]

When I was that age and even younger, I remember adverts on television:

Charlie the cat - keep away from strangers
Green Cross Code man - look right then left then right again!
Alvin Stardust - "Hey you! STOP!"
Stupid kid on railway line - THWACK

Those adverts, and the threat of my Dad ever finding out, combined to scare me the fuck away from anything to do with roads and trains.

Its got very little to do with maturity as well, as my friend's 4-year old lad once told him off for not looking both ways before using the Pelican crossing.

I'm not insensitive to the pain of the families involved, and the loss of 2 young lives - what I'm insensitive to is the stupid calls for safety improvements. If you're too fucking stupid to realise that massive great red and white barriers, flashing red lights, big black on white signs saying "DO NOT CROSS WHILE BARRIERS DOWN" are all designed to show you that other people know better than you, then perhaps you're not going to be long for this world anyway.

 

[Formash]

but it's also understandable I think.

Its in no way understandable. If the two of them were of sound mind, they will WAIT, whilst the red lights are on.

If they are going to be late for a train - catch the next one, sure they will curse.. but they would also be alive.

Maybe in hindsight they should've got there earlier to be in time for the train that was already on the platform.

I have sympathy for the parents, but its pure common-sense, that when the crossing lights are flashing chances are there's a train coming...i.e. Don't Cross ! DUH.

 

[old.user4556]

Its not like trains are quiet!!!

The station (Edinburgh Park) I used to get the train from used to have the Glasgow Queen Street passing through at ~70 mph - seriously, by the time you heard it and became aware of it, it was too late. It was surprisingly quiet right up until you heard the hissing of the track, look up and WHAM* right through the station.

Back to the point of the original post, Darwin at work; but an absolute tragedy all the same.








* Not George Michael and Andrew Ridgely

 

[rynnor]

Echoing the previous poster - we get express trains going through the local station and you do not hear them if theres a train in the station until they are on top of you.

As to visually spotting a train coming towards you - even if you do realise its on your track theres little chance of getting out the way in time - its also very deceptive as to what track a train is on - in a big station with multiple platforms you cant tell until it pulls up.

Im guessing that the signals prob go off a lot for a considerable length of time (they usually come on early and go off late) and people have become used to them - just human nature.

Tragic that they chose the wrong time to step out - those who say they were stupid have obviously forgotten what its like to be young - hell even older people step out without thinking sometimes.

 

[Draylor]

I remember adverts on television

Tufty!

This turned up while finding the other link, odd but amusing

 

[Lester]

Slightly related, I believe lots of railway engineers get killed because they "tune out" the noise of the trains by being exposed all the time. I used to live next to a railway line and after the first week there, hardly ever heard a train. I'd often hear the gates closing or opening but never a train - just tuned it out.

 

[TdC]

Yeah, Lester, I had that too. I used to live quite close to a railway line back in my student daze and would only notice the trains if they did something they shouldn't have, like unexpectedly stopping. If all was well a massive freight train could rumble by and I'd not bat an eyelid.

 

[Stazbumpa]

I read somewhere that the girls in question thought that the red lights where for the train that was already there, not the train that was coming. Given the earlier diagram, that would be a more than plausible explanation.

 

[WPKenny]

Do people step out in fron of cars at a pedestrian crossing just cos the green man's showing? You've still got to be supremely dumb not to look both ways and make sure the cars have actually stopped.

 

[GDW]

In my estate kids play chicken with cars on a regular basis ( as they probably do in estates throughout the UK). Is it because they are stupid? No its because they are bored kids and its a fun thing to do.

Kids dont think of safety and the consequences of ignoring it. Hell, young adults drink themselves into oblivion every weekend ignoring the consequences of what will happen in later life. Thats because until you hit thirty you dont think of mortality and how short life can be.

Does that mean if one of you guys snuff it as a result of being drunk or driving too fast and doing something stupid then we can all be insensitive and post a thread ranting about about how stupid you were for not listening to doctors' or government warnings ......I think not.

Instead you'll all be lamenting about what a terrible accident it was and what a nice guy you were.

 

[TdC]

tbh, if I jump in front of a car on a drunken whim and you *don't* call me stupid I will be most displeased.