Yesterday was a typical afternoon. I wrapped up at work right around 4 and headed off to try to catch the 4:20 train home. This requires a brief foray on downtown LA’s subway system. Something I’ve done every weekday for the last 6.5 years.
As I was heading down the stairs to the subway, I noticed my subway was there and boarding. So I sprinted on the off chance that I could get there before the doors closed. This is not an uncommon occurrence for me – some days you make it, and some you don’t.
Well, as I hit the bottom of the stairs, I heard the “ding-ding” that meant the doors were closing, but I was pretty sure I could still make it. I dashed for the nearest door, foolishly reaching my hand out as if I’d be able to hold the door open. But an elderly gentleman who was slightly ahead of me gave up and stopped in front of the doorway. I had anticipated him going in, and so I had to make a rather sudden stop and sidestep to avoid him. Oops.
I’ve not often had an “oh shit” moment where I’ve realized too late that I’ve put myself in imminent danger, thankfully, but this was one of them. Somehow, my sideways step put my right foot at exactly the right angle to cause my leg to fall in between the subway and the platform, and I went down hard. I think that my leg was only caught for a second or two, but I know I had a lot of very unpleasant thoughts go through my head very quickly while I was down there. I have to assume the subway driver saw me and waited for me to extract myself, because “royally fucked” doesn’t quite cover how bad that could have been for me had the subway taken off with my foot wedged there. The train didn’t leave until I had gotten clear, however.
Anyway, I extracted myself and crawled around the ground in pain for a bit before I was able to get up. I spent my commute home in pretty agonizing pain, but the damage seems to be fairly minimal. One bad cut, a few bruises and scrapes, and a sore ankle and shin. The swelling from last night went down enough overnight that I didn’t feel a need to go to the doctor today.
But I think I’ll be in less of a hurry and stepping a little more carefully on public transportation for a while.
Heh. The old man actually apologized to me. I’m still not quite sure why he was apologizing. The best analogy I can think of is if you’re the second car going through a yellow light. If you assume the car in front of you is going to go through, and they decide not to, the resulting accident is your fault, right? Just because I assumed he was going to go through the door doesn’t mean he was obligated to.
And I don’t really know if anyone else saw it; the platform was fairly empty because all the non-stupid people were already on the train. If anyone else saw it, no one came up to me to ask if I was OK or anything. <shrug>
That could have been bad. I’m glad you remain non-mutilated.
Years ago, I saw someone try to board the subway, but miss. His hand got caught in the doors. The train started up, and he began yelling “My hand is caught in the doors! Stop the train!” When the train got up to sufficient speed, he managed to extract himself. People muttered “Oh my! He could have been killed! How terrible!”
It would have been terrible, had I not witnessed him inserting his hand into the closed doors to begin with. Nice try, slick.
Once, I was going to my local subway stop and as I got to the top of the stairs, a crowd started coming out, like I just missed the train, but this was a large crowd.
Well someone said “No trains here!” letting me and a few other people know that the service was interupted.
Then it was added in a very pissed off tone “Some idiot threw himself in front of the train.”
And of course this person’s suicide was a major inconvience to them so they were mad.
Later that day I was back in the station and the service had resumed and there on the tracks was this large pile of kitty litter.
There’s a guy I work with who went on vacation for a few weeks. I saw him online and pinged him, asked how things were going.
Not so good. He was getting on the subway; he made it, but the door closed on his leg and wouldn’t budge. The conductor must not have seen it, because the train started moving. His foot went between the train and the platform. He got off at the next stop; it must not have been too bad to start with, because he went were he was planning on going. But it was still hurting, so he went to the hospital.
The doctor sent him home with some painkillers. A week later, it still hurt, so he went to another hospital. The doctor sent him home with some painkillers. A week later, he went to another hospital, and they wheeled him straight in to surgery.
He’s home now, but he’ll be laid up in bed for a bit. He tells me he’s got two tubes in his leg, one dripping antibiotics in, and the other pumping something out.
I knew someone who heard a train hit a suicide in Toronto. He said that it took place far down the platform, so that walls and whatnot were in the way, but still…
:: shudder ::
Could be worse. You could be in the car that’s directly on top of the jumper.
The still-alive jumper, who is screaming because he’s in excruciating pain. I didn’t know until then that human beings were capable of making noises like that.
The time between the start of the screaming and when they finally opened the emergency doors was the longest 10 minutes of my life. It took me several days before I could ride the subway without freaking out at every small change in the train’s velocity.
Seriously, folks. No need to rush, the next train will be along shortly.
There’s a video on LiveLeak of what I can only assume was either a jumper or an accident not unlike the one in the OP on a Brazilian subway that is one graphic example of how bad it could have been. He didn’t get dragged under the subway car and there wasn’t really any blood, but let’s just say a human isn’t supposed to fold lengthwise like that. I won’t link to it for obvious reasons, but I’m sure anyone morbidly curious enough can find it.
In London, we used to have buses like this that were open at the back, allowing you jump on and off at will.
I was running to jump on to a moving bus in Oxford Street, leapt, miscalculated, and went splat on to the tarmac. I ripped my trousers, gashed my knee, got bruised in various places, and felt a complete prat.
What made it a lot worse was that the road was very busy, but fortunately the very alert taxi driver behind me managed to slam on his brakes before making jam roly-poly of me.
I may get pitted for this, but to be honest yes it is annoying to be inconvenienced by someone who is not only selfish enough to permanently damage the lives of all those close to them by committing suicide, but also ruining the days of a large bunch of strangers. If you’re going to commit suicide, crawl into the desert and shoot yourself where you’ll “only” be a nuisance to those who have to clean up the mess.
Unfortunately, suicide is not normally a rational decision-making process so I guess these things will continue to happen. But I guess my point is, yes, any suicide is tragic, but I don’t see why I should be anything less than annoyed if it causes me to miss my train.
Yes, but stopping in front of an open door like that is a bad idea, or at least it’s not polite to the people behind you - in part because you’re expected to go through the door if it’s still open. Doesn’t really matter whose fault it is, though. I’m glad you’re alright and it’s a reminder that riders don’t need to give 110% to catch every subway train, even though we all do it. You remember the trains you just barely catch but forget the ones you miss anyhow.
Point taken, and maybe that’s why he was so apologetic. I suppose I’ll never know.
My ankle’s still a bit swollen…I suppose I’ll think about going to the doctor if I’m still limping on Monday.
Anyway, this thread was more about pointing out my own stupidity than looking for sympathy, but I really appreciate everyone’s concern for my well-being here. Thanks, folks.
Yesterday, a coworker who knew of my predicament made a comment about throwing someone “under the bus.” I looked her straight in the eye and pointed and said, “THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!!”
