How is this for a weird story?

The same thing happened in Hyndman, PA a couple years ago.  There is no cell phone reception there, so the teenagers listen to music.  I guess this guy had it up loud enough not to here an approaching Amtrak train.

hokie71 posted:

Here is the link, apparently a former Iowa / NFL player was jogging along the track and the rest is history.  He must have had headphones or some noise device over his ears... Trains are loud and the ground shakes!  Sad story:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/n...train-222610664.html

 

   Not that loud from behind and approaching. Gravel makes enough noise to muffle the sound, and you don't feel vibration well while on the move. Concentration is on your footing choosing ties, or big loose gravel, on every step. Ask me how I know, and I'll just tell you after school, a fast F's horn blast scares the crap out of you from behind at under 100 yards. I walked alleys home again for a bit

Yes, railroad tracks are dangerous. No, you don't hear or feel modern diesels approaching, especially at higher speeds.

Railroad tracks and at least 15' on either side are Private Property with No Trespassing laws at multiple levels.

Very sad story.

We have walking trails that follow the nearby BNSF tracks. They both follow a small stream. The train tracks are probably only 35'-50' from the tracks in places and closer in some places where the trail passes under the tracks. The train speeds are probably 30-35 mph. In the last couple of years there have been a couple of trains pass by me while walking that I could barely hear at all. The one I really remember was a couple of years ago and looked like all brand new tank cars. I still can't get over how quiet that train was and I was at one of the areas of the trail that is closest to the tracks. I don't recall ever hearing such a quiet train before? I can see how one of these could actually be right on top of you before you even knew it was there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/f...train-222610664.html

Ed Calloway, Kyle’s father, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that his son jogged along that railroad path “for exercise.”

“He liked to run and it had rained the day before and the area where he ran was muddy, and so he was going back and forth across the tracks to get out of the mud,” Ed Calloway said.

“The longer version is at our old house, the train on the right side of the tracks went east, and the train on the left tracks went west. Our presumption is this train was on the opposite side that he was used to so he got on to the side so the train would have been coming at him from the front. We think that he got confused because the train somehow had been slopped over  [???]  and was going in a different direction that he was used to. We don’t know, we’re just assuming that’s what happened.”

Apparently this is double-track railroad and maybe the guy thought trains only ran on the right-hand track, like vehicles on a highway. Bad assumption. Does Operation Lifesaver ever make presentations in schools to give children some basic education about trains??

Somewhere on the internet is a horrible short video of a woman being hit by a speeding commuter train on triple-track through Chicago suburbs. One train had just cleared the grade crossing and commuters were hurrying to get to the platform on the other side when a fast train came through on the middle track. That is the kind of video I never forget.

I think the schools need more effective safety videos to effectively educate children about the hazards of trains in various different situations and how people can get killed by trespassing on railroads, or by inattention or impatience at grade crossings.

The other day, I was along a 2-train highly-travelled main, sitting in my SUV (with the windows down, radio and engine off) waiting for an Amtrak train to photo. I never heard or saw the freight coming from the opposite direction and suddenly boom, there it was going past. I was ticked because I wanted to get a shot of a train from that direction but I then realized how easy it'd be to not hear a train coming up behind you.

And keep in mind, I was looking for trains at the time to get photos of!

Unfortunately the whole world is perhaps becoming more stupid. I see kids bicycling or skate-boarding alongside traffic lanes and texting at the same time, sometimes also wearing headphones! People using phones and texting while they drive. People driving with such loud music they can't hear anything else. Pedestrians fiddling with their smart phones and not looking for traffic etc.

If "smart phones" are so smart, why don't they have hazard detectors so they can alert stupid people to watch where they're going?

Ace, you want to see stupid, you should come see the people that live in my county. We're all entitled to a little stupidity, but these people have lost the privilege of being stupid.

Ace posted:

If "smart phones" are so smart, why don't they have hazard detectors so they can alert stupid people to watch where they're going?

This just might be on the 'features to add to smart phones' list already? If not, I bet they will add it someday. 

Think stupid people would be too stupid to know what the smart phone was trying to tell them.

DennyM posted:

Ace, you want to see stupid, you should come see the people that live in my county.

Stupid is universal. Any of us could see you at a 1:1 ratio for all your stupid people, for any of ours.

We all have our moments; some luckier than others

 But there's always one question to consider