Please do not throw yourself under a train.

The BBQ Pit
1

Suicide-by-train happens on a regular basis (at least monthly) on my train-line, and it always happens on my commute home. It pisses me and my fellow commuters off something shocking.

Tonight was a typical suicide-by-train night. An announcement over the loudspeaker informs us that we are being dumped at one station to be picked up by buses to continue our journey as an ‘accident’ has happened in between. What would normally be a 15 minute train ride turns into a 1.5 hr fucking ordeal for me…for others who were ON the train that hit the fucker, it was an extra three hrs for them to get home.

And lest we forget about the poor fucking train-drivers who watch helplessly as the depressed, drunk, deranged drongos who throw themselves onto the line in the hope of a quick and painless death. It might be quick for them, but the drivers have to witness the horror, probably in their nightmares for the rest of their lives.

May I request some concessions?

Firstly, if you want to top yourself, go somewhere private so your family, your friends or the community don’t have to witness it. Preferably go somewhere REALLY private so that the police don’t have to dig up or identify your scuzzy, decomposed body. May you rest in peace, forever!

If you insist on letting the world know that you’re dead, can you just do a garden-variety overdose under a tree in a park somewhere?

Your last resort should be to throw yourself under a train. You really don’t win any fans that way…all you got tonight was curses and wishes that you would rot in hell forever. ‘Jumpers’ are persona non grata 'round here.

You fuck everyone over who just want to get home after a long day at work. You fuck with the PT train system who had to call in emergency buses (and our lovely busdriver who had to ask the passengers for directions to all the stations…bless her soul!!) You fuck with the cops, the ambos, the SES and all the other poor schleppers who had to scrape your bits off the tracks. And you seriously fuck with the hearts and souls of the drivers. Damn you.

You’ll be forgotten tomorrow by all who were fucked over by your shit tonight. Yeah, it’s been a long day, but whatever. Your mum, your dad, your wife, your husband or your kids won’t have the pleasure of forgetfulness though.

Take your shit elsewhere.

2

I’m less bothered by the travel inconvenience than by the effect on train drivers in particular. I’ve known train drivers who have experienced that, and it can be a life-destroying event for someone who is forced to watch helplessly at close range while the jumper’s body explodes like a Hefty bag full of minestrone. Many are traumatized to the point of being unable to work as a driver again.

Incredibly inconsiderate thing to do. Go throw yourself off Beachy Head or something if you must, but not in front of a moving vehicle.

3

While I am not a train driver, I have seen this happen. The description, if anyone is wondering, isn’t really hyperbole. High speed train vs. human body does result in extra-chunky soup.

Please off yourselves someone other than the train I’m riding.

4

My uncle, who works for Vline, said the state averages one a week (and this was a few years back). Depressingly common.

5

[tangent]
This, by the way, is a terrible way to transport minestrone.
[/tangent]

6

That is not a good idea, either. If you disappear, the police will have to put scarce funds in investigating and spend countless man hours tracking you or your body down. They might even arrest some schlub on suspicion of having murdered you. And if they do find you, police still has to deal with your decomposed remains.

But yeah, there is not eally an easy and considerate way to commit suicide. As there shouldn’t be.

7

How many of those incidents are actually suicides?

8

The guy who described this to me said “It really reminds you that the human body is mostly water”. He also said that often the feet “blow off”.

9

From someone (and there may be many more of us) that is completely removed (not in a body bag) from train commutes, where in the world is this happening on a frequent basis?

10

Apparently there are about 200 a year in the UK.

11

It accounts for 7% of the suicides in NYC; there were 5 successes and 6 attempts last year in the Washington DC metro, and the first one of the new year in DC happened last week right down the street from my office. Four hours later they were STILL cleaning up the aftermath, so I had to have my boyfriend come into DC to pick me up.

There was an attempt ( he lived, but died a week later due to complications ) about 3 weeks after I started my job here in 2011; it happened JUST before 5pm, and the result was people walking a few miles to get to an open station, which was nightmarishly crowded. I still have some residual PTSD from that- it was the first time I really understood the term “sea of humanity.”

I’m totally behind the OP on this.

12

There was a very sad article in the NY Times about subway operators who have to deal with hitting people. Apparently it’s pretty much a given that every driver will get unlucky at some point. Almost all of them are suicides or drunks. The MTA says there’s about one person a week killed by subway trains.

13

In the Chicago area, a really good percentage are. There are some where you get someone trying to beat the train, but a rather high percent are people waiting for the train then jumping in front of it, or walking on the tracks. I’ve read articles about the Metra (commuter rail train) engineers who have said things like seeing someone walking on the tracks look back over their shoulder and keep walking. I can’t imagine the PTSD.

14

Hmm, now that makes me wonder what the most considerate way to commit suicide is. You would need to make it the easiest and least traumatic you could for the people who had to take care of your corpse. You would also want to make sure that you were found by professionals who were expecting to find you. Also, you would want to make sure they found you soon enough that you were rotted.

I am guessing an overdose of something in bed with a note by your side. I am not sure though if there is a really good thing you could get at home for this. I have heard sleeping pills do not really work. You would also need to rig an email to be sent to the police on a delay just long enough to ensure that you would be dead telling them to come pick you up and make sure no one else would find you first. Looks like outlook can do that easily. Bonus points for having your will and all other important financial documents in a folder next to you. Extra bonus points for setting up the funeral arrangements ahead of time.

Of course, it is hard to imagine anyone who has their shit together enough to do all that offing themselves.

15

This. If someone is at a point in their lives where they feel they have no other option, and that the time is now, then asking them to consider the plights of others at that time of desparation seems a bit much. While it would be nice if suiciders would plan out their itinerary ahead of time to inconvenience others as little as possible, it just isn’t going to happen that often.

16

It can discourage the not-quite-so-far-gone folks, though. I’ve been through a few very dark times in my life, and even when I thought I was pretty useless and worthless, I knew that the train would not be a good or kind option. But yeah, not everyone is that aware at that point or beyond.

Hopefully more suicidal people will read about the horrors this inflicts on train engineers and hopefully turn aside from that path. (And it’ll just be a side benefit to not hear the ominous phrase “grade crossing incident” in train delay reports.)

17

There was a time when I was depressed enough to consider ending it all many years ago. It was at the point of an intellectual decision, and I would have probably done something like this if I had done it. I realize most people who do it are probably experiencing more of a raw open pain that prevents them from being able to plan.

So, the morbid curiosity inspired by this thread has led me to discover two interesting things. First, there is a Wikipedia page on suicide methods, and two, the best method for everyone involved would have to be suffocation by nitrogen.

It is fast (around 4 min), painless, messless, and leaves no danger to others so long as the room is reasonably well ventilated. Seems to be what people who take sleeping pills are looking for. Probably want to avoid using helium in case you chicken out and call for help at the last minute. That would make for a very interesting 911 call.

18

Perhaps I’m wrong about this, but I suppose that the people throwing themselves in front of trains are doing this because they expect the train to kill them pretty much instantaneously. You tend to go from living, breathing person to a fine mist with a few barely recognizable chunks of former human in a few milliseconds. Of course, it is traumatic for the witnesses, but suicides are rarely going to worry too much about the well-being of others…

19

The most considerate method would be to assassinate a notorious dictator or torturer, I suppose, and go down in a blaze of glory from his bodyguards. I guess nitrogen is okay as a distant second.

20

This is what I love about this place. Humor in the midst of tragedy. I’ll be chuckling all day over this.