# I Pit Drunks Falling on Subway Tracks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178 "2009-11-11T14:03:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/41 "2009-11-12T21:41:50Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > So only fat people can hold their liquor? I’m just playing :). But BAC and the effects alcohol consumption is known to be related to body fat percentage and overall weight. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/42 "2009-11-12T21:43:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Four 22-ounce beers is the equivalent of 7-and-a-third bottles. Most women I know would be falling down drunk after anything more than a six-pack. I suspect we know different women. Poor chick. I’d hate to have my drunken stumblings broadcast internationally. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/43 "2009-11-12T21:46:55Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I’m just playing :). But BAC and the effects alcohol consumption is known to be related to body fat percentage and overall weight. Right. But if with enough practice, we can all be upright after one lousy six-pack. Which is why I call these women rookies. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/44 "2009-11-12T21:51:58Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I’m not sure about Hungry… What, she drank on an empty stomach, too? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/45 "2009-11-12T22:05:47Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s more the falling on the tracks than the standing next to them that bothered me, and I was going for moral opprobrium as much as legal. IANAL all the time. 😛 > > I suspect, though, that it probably is already against some law or another for an unauthorized person to be on the subway tracks and to interfere with the operation of the train. > > How about the more extreme case: if she’d pulled someone down with her onto the tracks, is that any less blameworthy than hitting someone with her car while driving drunk? I feel bad for her, and I wouldn’t pit her or anything…but this is an interesting point. How are these different? Probably because we know that drunk driving is wrong and that you’re to blame if you do it. It’s been more hammered into our heads to not do it. There’s no excuse if you drink and drive. People can fall off the platform for all kinds of reasons, too. Like that guy who fell in NYC because he was having a seizure and that other guy rescued him. Though getting drunk is intentional. Even though I do think people have the right to drink what they want, if you know you’re going to be a burden on other people, you probably shouldn’t drink so much. I’m not talking about getting smashed and falling down one night…but if you drink to excess every weekend and your friends have to carry you home or paramedics are constantly being called, then you probably do have a problem and a responsibility to stop. Falling on subway tracks would be another example. I don’t think this woman was a chronic drunk or anything, but she does have a responsibility not to drink so much in the future, or if she does, to not put anyone else at risk. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/46 "2009-11-13T00:04:43Z")
Mothers Against Drunk Stumbling just isn’t very catchy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/47 "2009-11-13T04:01:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Mothers Against Drunk Stumbling just isn’t very catchy. Mothers Yelling At Snockered Stumblers. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/48 "2009-11-13T06:22:24Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > > It’s more the falling on the tracks than the standing next to them that bothered me, and I was going for moral opprobrium as much as legal. IANAL all the time. 😛 > > > > I suspect, though, that it probably is already against some law or another for an unauthorized person to be on the subway tracks and to interfere with the operation of the train. > > > > How about the more extreme case: if she’d pulled someone down with her onto the tracks, is that any less blameworthy than hitting someone with her car while driving drunk? > > I feel bad for her, and I wouldn’t pit her or anything…but this is an interesting point. How are these different? Probably because we know that drunk driving is wrong and that you’re to blame if you do it. It’s been more hammered into our heads to not do it. There’s no excuse if you drink and drive. > > People can fall off the platform for all kinds of reasons, too. Like that guy who fell in NYC because he was having a seizure and that other guy rescued him. Though getting drunk is intentional. > > Even though I do think people have the right to drink what they want, if you know you’re going to be a burden on other people, you probably shouldn’t drink so much. I’m not talking about getting smashed and falling down one night…but if you drink to excess every weekend and your friends have to carry you home or paramedics are constantly being called, then you probably do have a problem and a responsibility to stop. Falling on subway tracks would be another example. > > I don’t think this woman was a chronic drunk or anything, but she does have a responsibility not to drink so much in the future, or if she does, to not put anyone else at risk. Drunk drivers manage to kill thousands of people every year in the U.S. Drunk staggerers, not so much. While I’m sure drunkeness contributes to some number of slip-and-fall type accidents, some of them fatal, drunk staggerers are much, much less likely kill or seriously injure _other_ people than are drunken operaters of multi-thousands-of-pounds-weighing motor vehicles operating at speeds of up to a mile or two a minute. I’m sure it happens that drunk staggerers _sometimes_ manage to take someone else with them, but part of the reason this story is newsworthy is that it’s pretty unusual, in that it resulted in an “incident” involving a fairly large number of other people (where “26-year-old Boston woman wraps car around telephone pole after drinking four 22-ounce beers, escapes serious injury” maybe makes it to page B2 of the local newspaper; maybe page B1 if she actually dies; and only makes it to national news if she has a head-on collision with a school bus full of orphans or her last name is Kennedy or something like that). So, no, she probably doesn’t deserve to be Pitted, since what she tried to do (ride home on the subway) was less likely to result in harm to her than driving a car or riding home in a car driven by another drunken person, and a _lot_ less likely to result in harm to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/49 "2009-11-13T14:34:32Z")
According to _Superfreakanomics_, you’re actually in more danger of killing yourself by drunk staggering. (I’m sure that’s partly because the sort of people you see drunk staggering are a lot drunker than the ones who either got in a car or got a cab, not to mention the number of homeless drunks who have no choice _but_ to drunk stagger, not owning a car.) ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/50 "2009-11-13T14:35:21Z")
I readily agree that she did the right thing by taking public transportation rather than driving. Maybe an extra layer of annoyance at this situation was that the Boston MBTA is going through a horrible time ( a report out questioning safety, tons of system issues, and injuries to commuters). Tom Tildrum hit the nail on the head - she endangered others. Also, maybe it’s me, but I haven’t gotten that drunk since I turned 21. At 26, that level of binge drinking is worrisome… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/51 "2009-11-13T17:10:38Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > According to _Superfreakanomics_, you’re actually in more danger of killing yourself by drunk staggering. (I’m sure that’s partly because the sort of people you see drunk staggering are a lot drunker than the ones who either got in a car or got a cab, not to mention the number of homeless drunks who have no choice _but_ to drunk stagger, not owning a car.) Or because drunk drivers often get into accidents but often survive them? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/52 "2009-11-13T17:14:23Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > I readily agree that she did the right thing by taking public transportation rather than driving. Maybe an extra layer of annoyance at this situation was that the Boston MBTA is going through a horrible time ( a report out questioning safety, tons of system issues, and injuries to commuters). Tom Tildrum hit the nail on the head - she endangered others. Also, maybe it’s me, but I haven’t gotten that drunk since I turned 21. At 26, that level of binge drinking is worrisome… If you really didn’t want to be endangered by others as you navigate through your life, I would suggest locking yourself in a padded room for the remainder of your existence. There is risk and endangerment all around, and what she did isn’t egregious or really out of the bounds of what is considered socially acceptable. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/53 "2009-11-13T17:17:31Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > I readily agree that she did the right thing by taking public transportation rather than driving. Maybe an extra layer of annoyance at this situation was that the Boston MBTA is going through a horrible time ( a report out questioning safety, tons of system issues, and injuries to commuters). Tom Tildrum hit the nail on the head - she endangered others. Also, maybe it’s me, but I haven’t gotten that drunk since I turned 21. At 26, that level of binge drinking is worrisome… I’m not sure I understand your first point. What does this have to do with the MBTA’s other woes? She endangered others exactly as much as she would have if she’d fallen on the tracks sober, which happens far more often than you’d think. And while your concern for her health is touching, I don’t really think that your repeated attempts to paint her as a problem drinker despite the lack of any sort of evidence for that reflect as much on her as they do on you. What exactly is your investment here? Do you work for the T? Are you just an aggressive teetotaler? Help me to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/54 "2009-11-13T17:26:45Z")
If anything, this would seem to be a superb advertisement for the MTBA’s safety protocols. The train operator is the new Captain Sully. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178/55 "2009-11-13T19:12:20Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Or because drunk drivers often get into accidents but often survive them? Good point - a drunk staggerer falling into traffic has a lower survivability than a drunk driver hitting a telephone pole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drunks-falling-on-subway-tracks/517178.md?page=2)