Missed the Darwin Award by this >< much

wsuffa

wsuffa

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Bill S.
Officials think that Zachariah Smith was so engrossed in sending a text message Monday that he didn't notice a train - until it hit him as he crossed tracks in Elmwood Place.

Smith, 18, was on Township Avenue about 10 a.m. Monday waiting to cross the tracks. The gates were down to allow a CSX train to continue its southbound route.

When that train passed, Smith, apparently too intent on texting, was hit by a northbound Norfolk Southern train that he didn't see coming from the other direction.
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http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs....70821&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=708210390&Ref=AR
 
Seems to happen almost every day around here doesn't it?

This past weekend a HS Coach was killed near my house. He was jogging on the railroad tracks with his walkman on when he was hit by a train. The stupid thing is he was jogging across a railway bridge when there was a perfectly good pedestrian bridge 100 feet away.
 
I wonder if he's the same guy that I saw on a cellphone that walked straight into a huge concrete wall. Never saw it coming.
 
smigaldi said:
This past weekend a HS Coach was killed near my house. He was jogging on the railroad tracks with his walkman on when he was hit by a train. The stupid thing is he was jogging across a railway bridge when there was a perfectly good pedestrian bridge 100 feet away.
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Similar thing happened here many years ago. A couple of kids were riding an ATV across a RR bridge when the Amtrack train came down the tracks. Poor kids never had a chance. The ones I really felt for though were the conductor who watched the whole thing happen - the kids both looked him in the eyes as he approached - and the EMT folks who had to pick up the pieces.

Truly sad...
 
One of the first fatality accidents I ever had to help work was a train-ped accident. A homeless man had decided to take a nap on the tracks (don't ask me why...I have no idea), when I train came by and ran over him. Engineer saw him raise his head up and look surprised just before the train hit him. We had to shut down miles of that track while we "collected" the guy. Not pretty.

Why in the world anyone would jog, walk, sleep..or whatever, on a train track I just don't know. Those things really can't stop on a dime ya know.
 
ausrere said:
Why in the world anyone would jog, walk, sleep..or whatever, on a train track I just don't know. Those things really can't stop on a dime ya know.
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Seems that drunks like to pass out on railway tracks. There was an Airman at Keesler AFB that ended up sleeping on the tracks one night. He did not fare any better than your homeless guy. The coroner said that his .19 BAC might have contributed to his decision to sleep on the oh so comfortable steel tracks.
 
smigaldi said:
Seems to happen almost every day around here doesn't it?

This past weekend a HS Coach was killed near my house. He was jogging on the railroad tracks with his walkman on when he was hit by a train. The stupid thing is he was jogging across a railway bridge when there was a perfectly good pedestrian bridge 100 feet away.
Click to expand...

When I worked for Sperry Rail Service, I had the same thing happen in Toronto, Came over the hill doing 60 and here's this dude walking down the tracks. Luckily I was driving a 59' long independant car rather than a full train. I managed to get stopped a few inches before I hit him (threw everyone in the car to the floor though). I had the horn blowing the whole time, he didn't even turn to look until I was stopped. If I was a train, he'd be dead.
 
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