Today's Darwin Award Winner...big headphone guy walking along train tracks

[alexmst]

From Toronto Star today:

"A third train fatality — really, stay away from the tracks, people — occurred Thursday morning when a 40-year-old man was struck while walking along a set of CP rail tracks in North York, near Finch Ave. W. and Weston Rd. Police believe he may have not heard the train’s warning because of the large headphones he was wearing"

----------------

If you're going to walk along the train tracks, don't wear headphones with the volume cranked up so loud you can't hear a train approaching behind you blowing its whistle at you to get out of the way. And look both ways before crossing the street...

 

[james t kirk]

Don't even walk along the tracks period.

Trains are REMARKABLY quiet when coming along. It's the strangest thing. Often you can hear them miles away (I can hear the trains at my house in High Park that are travelling along the CPR tracks in Toronto West Junction), but if they are close by, they are silent. I was walking along the tracks one time and if it were not for the guy on the horn, I would not have heard him. Practically jumped out of my skin.

The high speed VIA trains easily travel at 100 mph and you will not have time to react.

If the rails are shiny silver, that means that the tracks are active and look out for those 3 big head lights. If you're walking along the tracks and you see the signal GREEN - that means he's coming. A flashing green signal - he's bearing down on top of you.

Even if the rails are rusty, the trains could still be using the track.

Solid rust, odds are it's an abandoned track - but even then, you never know.

 

[randygirl]

Don't even walk along the tracks period.

Trains are REMARKABLY quiet when coming along. It's the strangest thing. Often you can hear them miles away (I can hear the trains at my house in High Park that are travelling along the CPR tracks in Toronto West Junction), but if they are close by, they are silent. I was walking along the tracks one time and if it were not for the guy on the horn, I would not have heard him. Practically jumped out of my skin.

The high speed VIA trains easily travel at 100 mph and you will not have time to react.

If the rails are shiny silver, that means that the tracks are active and look out for those 3 big head lights. If you're walking along the tracks and you see the signal GREEN - that means he's coming. A flashing green signal - he's bearing down on top of you.

Even if the rails are rusty, the trains could still be using the track.

Solid rust, odds are it's an abandoned track - but even then, you never know.

Great tips, very sound advice.

You are right about the trains being silent, I never considered it before, but it's true. There are a set of tracks near our camp and often the train is quiet, except for the horns.

Really, it's sad that people still die this way...it is so preventable.

 

[tboy]

I think the reason you can't hear the trains so well close up is due to their low frequency sound waves. I had an ass kicking car stereo once and played a concert disc with kettle drums. You couldn't hear the kettle drums inside the truck, only if you stood about 10 feet away. An engineer explained to me that to 1 sine wave of sound was so long, if you were so close to the source you wouldn't hear it. You had to get far enough away to be exposed to at least 1 complete cycle. (or something like that).

But back to the story: we don't have natural selection to weed out the dumb anymore, so thank god we have man made situations to do it.......

 

[Sexy_Dave]

I believe as well most engines are diesel/electric, the diesel engine is mainly used for recharging the electric turbines that actually drive the engine. So that when at speed it is running under electric power and you wont hear a loud combustion engine noise.

Some train afficianado could shed more light on this however.

 

[tboy]

I believe as well most engines are diesel/electric, the diesel engine is mainly used for recharging the electric turbines that actually drive the engine. So that when at speed it is running under electric power and you wont hear a loud combustion engine noise.

Some train afficianado could shed more light on this however.

The diesel generators are pretty noisy and you can still hear a big truck when it's coming down the road but with a train, the wheels are pretty quiet unless it's turning so you don't hear the road noise that you would from a truck on asphalt.

Either way the moral of the story is: don't walk on railway tracks......

 

[Brill]

Walking the rails is seen as romantic - it's for desperadoes, drifters and outlaws. I bet he was listening to Johnny Cash at the time.

http://trainznthingz.webs.com/005.JPG

 

[Aardvark154]

Canada doesn't have much if any track with overhead cantary for the operation of electric locomotives, but you want to talk about quiet.

 

[ezeddie123]

taking the long walk along a train track with your head phones on, is also a good way of committing suicide, just listen to the music, youll never see it coming.

 

[nofrill]

"Common Sense" has been dead and mummified long time ago .....

 

[Brandon123]

It's sad to hear when someone dies however, to get hit by a train while wearing big headphones is not a bright thing to do. Their are so many deaths that could be avoided due to stupidity. I see kids walking in parking lots and not watching where they walk while listening to music. I would not rely on any driver to avoid hitting me when walking. I heard of a girl dying while typing on her blackberry. A lot of deaths could be avoided due to stupidity.

 

[jwmorrice]

Don't even walk along the tracks period.

Trains are REMARKABLY quiet when coming along. It's the strangest thing. Often you can hear them miles away (I can hear the trains at my house in High Park that are travelling along the CPR tracks in Toronto West Junction), but if they are close by, they are silent. I was walking along the tracks one time and if it were not for the guy on the horn, I would not have heard him. Practically jumped out of my skin.

The high speed VIA trains easily travel at 100 mph and you will not have time to react.

If the rails are shiny silver, that means that the tracks are active and look out for those 3 big head lights. If you're walking along the tracks and you see the signal GREEN - that means he's coming. A flashing green signal - he's bearing down on top of you.

Even if the rails are rusty, the trains could still be using the track.

Solid rust, odds are it's an abandoned track - but even then, you never know.

Another problem may be that folks think they'll see trains coming, believing that trains, like cars or trucks, will always 'drive' on the right.

jwm