# How do people get hit by trains? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609 "2017-05-14T21:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/81 "2017-05-18T22:28:32Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Which is more likely, that the car failed at just the wrong time in just the wrong spot in just the wrong way or that the person in the car wanted it so and others are bending over backwards not to reach the unsavory conclusion? In my grandfather’s case the year was 1956. Most likely his truck had a manual choke, and was old. He was close to 70, so his reflexes had probably slowed a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/82 "2017-05-18T22:45:19Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Not surprising, considering it sounds like he’s saying “I feel like jumping …” before the horn drowns him out. Presumably the rest of that was 'in front of the train." :eek: I think what he said was “I don’t fucking care, mate.” ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/83 "2017-05-18T22:50:40Z")
Fresno city college has a heavily used rail line that runs between the parking lots and the main body of the campus. I know its more like 1 time in 10, but it always seems like there is a train coming through between 7:45-7:55. Sometimes its an amtrack barreling along at 60+mph worse, a huge cargo train that stops, then you get people trying to duck under cars or couplers. This leads to the obvious disasters. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/84 "2017-05-18T22:54:01Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I think what he said was “I don’t fucking care, mate.” Not that part, but the part after it. I can’t tell what he says, but it does sound something like “I’m gonna jump _TRAIN HORN_” I don’t think that’s exactly what he says, but that’s the part **John Bredin** is referring to. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/85 "2017-05-18T22:56:07Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Fresno city college has a heavily used rail line that runs between the parking lots and the main body of the campus. I know its more like 1 time in 10, but it always seems like there is a train coming through between 7:45-7:55. > > Sometimes its an amtrack barreling along at 60+mph > > worse, a huge cargo train that stops, > > then you get people trying to duck under cars or couplers. > > This leads to the obvious disasters. Wow. [You’re not kidding](https://www.google.com/search?q=fresno+city+college+train+accident&oq=fresno+city+college+train&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.5174j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8). I didn’t check to see if those are all the same crossing, but it seems there have been multiple incidents over the past decade or so. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/86 "2017-05-19T07:14:33Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Not surprising, considering it sounds like he’s saying “I feel like jumping …” before the horn drowns him out. Presumably the rest of that was 'in front of the train." :eek: > > (Aside: was that video shot with a film camera, or was something else constantly whirring like a film camera?) I think he’s actually saying “I don’t fucking care, mate” - presumably in response to someone telling him off or that there’s a train coming. Doesn’t seem suicidal to me, merely idiotic. The whirring noise sounds like it might be a motorcycle engine. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/87 "2017-05-19T07:21:38Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > I think he’s actually saying “I don’t fucking care, mate” - presumably in response to someone telling him off or that there’s a train coming. Doesn’t seem suicidal to me, merely idiotic. > > The whirring noise sounds like it might be a motorcycle engine. Missed the edit window. On a second listen, you’re right. He’s saying something like “I feel like ju…”. I missed that the first time round. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/88 "2017-05-19T12:03:48Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > But that’s setting aside a lot of people who get hit by trains. And there’s no way IMO to accurately count that. Nobody knows what the person was thinking. It can only be inferred on a very rough probability scale according to circumstances, and there’s obviously a tendency to de-emphasize the possibility of suicide in view of family feelings if there’s any real doubt. Yes, it happens a lot. I commute into London on one of the main commuter lines, and I’d say at least once or twice a month there’s an announcement of delays “due to a person hit by a train”. They’re generally suicides. A few months ago I was on the train that hit [this person](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2690941/person-hit-by-train-at-woking-causing-delays-and-cancellations-to-services/). The train was passing through the station at high speed, without stopping, and suddenly there was a loud bang followed by the sound of gravel striking the underside of the train: it really sounded like the train was derailing. We came to a fairly abrupt halt, with a strong smell of burning brakes, and were stuck for about 2 hours before they could move the train (backwards, into the station). We had to move to another train. As that one left, we passed the front of the train we had been on. A person can do a lot of damage to the front of a train at that speed. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/89 "2017-05-19T15:15:23Z")
Some years agao, my family was visiting me in San Dog, and we were on the trolley (light rail system). My sister was shooting the shit with the operator (at a stop! 😛 ). Somehow the conversation came around to people getting hit, and she asked the operator if he’d ever had a close call. The conversation-stopping answer? “I’ve killed three people.” Yes, even those brightly-colored and relatively slow railed trolleys can catch careless or stupid folks by surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/90 "2017-05-20T06:10:32Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Some years agao, my family was visiting me in San Dog, and we were on the trolley (light rail system). My sister was shooting the shit with the operator (at a stop! 😛 ). Somehow the conversation came around to people getting hit, and she asked the operator if he’d ever had a close call. The conversation-stopping answer? “I’ve killed three people.” > > Yes, even those brightly-colored and relatively slow railed trolleys can catch careless or stupid folks by surprise. Darwinism in action. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/91 "2017-05-20T17:15:49Z")
I once asked a cop what the most horrible thing he ever saw was. “A man who tried to drive his car across the train tracks to avoid a train and missed. He was spread out over two city blocks.” ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/92 "2017-05-20T17:41:46Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > I was in a safety breifing once and the guy said that one fifth of train/vehicle collisions were the result of the car driving into the side of the train. How anyone could miss a train that is taking up their entire field of view is beyond me. Sort of related, sort of a hijack. A good friend of mine and I were bicycling in Ottawa a long time ago (late 1970s) on the bike path along the Ottawa River Parkway. There was one part that jogged left to cross the parkway at a 90 degree angle with a slight decline in elevation. We were both about to cross when I hit my brakes, a couple of feet away from a city bus that was sailing right in front of us. My friend stopped immediately after I did. I told him that I never saw that bus until it was immediately in front of us. He didn’t see it either and it was the sound of my brakes that made him stop. We analyzed the situation afterward and the best that we could come up with was that the colour scheme of the bus was close enough to the background that we just didn’t notice it in our peripheral vision. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/93 "2017-05-20T17:43:18Z")
This train-related event [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9919897#post9919897](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9919897#post9919897) is about the worst thing I’ve seen in peacetime. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/94 "2017-05-20T23:35:26Z")
[Actual footage of a guy hit by a train.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SukTBSJJ4KM) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609/95 "2017-05-20T23:44:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Actual footage of a guy hit by a train.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SukTBSJJ4KM) Harrowing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-hit-by-trains/786609.md?page=4)