# Please do not throw yourself under a train.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 14, 2013, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157 "2013-01-14T12:02:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/81 "2013-01-15T15:24:46Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> We had another incident on one of my commuter trains when we had a sudden, hard stop. Two child bikes and a kid on one side of the tracks, another bike on the other side of the tracks. More bikes than kids, very worrisome. The conductor rather than the driver went to look on that one, and he was very, very much dreading having to go out that door. I swear it looked like he was about to cry. Turns out the there were as many kids as bikes but the “missing” two where hiding a little further away in the grass and bushes but it was a nasty time as the conductors walked up and down the length of train looking for blood and body parts and hoping the kids were off to the side, which it turned out they were.
I was at the front of the first passenger car in a train that hit a kid on a bike. A sponge and a bucket was used to clean off the window. The crossing arm, bell and lights were working, but the kid went halfway around them.
---
### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/82 "2013-01-15T16:26:40Z")
> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> The theoretical pros and cons of such an institution are very interesting idea, worthy of a GD thread by themselves.
[Done.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=679068)
---
### Author:  [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/83 "2013-01-15T18:30:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> 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.
When Terry Pratchett was a young journalist he was sent to report on a suicide by train. He said the woman was spread along about a hundred yards of the line.
---
### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/84 "2013-01-15T18:30:47Z")
> [@Muffin](#):
>
> I was at the front of the first passenger car in a train that hit a kid on a bike. A sponge and a bucket was used to clean off the window. The crossing arm, bell and lights were working, but the kid went halfway around them.
Northshore line of the Chicago Metra?
---
### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/85 "2013-01-15T18:45:03Z")
GO train (double decker commuter train) inbound to Toronto at the Lorne Park Road crossing in Mississauga.
---
### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/86 "2013-01-15T19:25:37Z")
Two incidents of kids on bikes going around gates to try to beat a train in one lifetime.
I wonder why I even asked. What answer did I want?
---
### Author:  [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/87 "2013-01-15T20:07:43Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#):
>
> _Any_ suicide is inconsiderate for the people left behind. The best method, therefore, is one where the autopsy report comes back “There doesn’t seem to be any signs of foul play. He just died, we don’t know why. Call it heart attack, for want of a better cause.”
>
> I have no suggestions on a method that will give that result.
While that does have some benefits, it necessarily requires what would appear to be a total lack of preparation on the financial side, who finds you, etc. And, you always run the risk of it being discovered to not be natural. The immediate guess then would not be that you had committed suicide, but that you had been murdered. That leads to an investigation and there is a good chance that your closest loved ones, the ones you were trying to save the pain thinking you committed suicide, being investigated, and possibly even prosecuted, for your murder.
All actions have consequences, and there is a certain amount of pain you cannot spare your friends and family. Just as in all things, you should look to minimize it. But, just as you are not going to tailor your entire life to sparing your friends and family all problems, you should not extend your life purely to avoid causing them trauma. The best that can be expected is for you to minimize the impact.
---
### Author:  [@mbetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbetter)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/88 "2013-01-15T20:15:58Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#):
>
> Pay all of your bills and debts off in advance.
> …
I’ll be dead by the time I can afford to kill myself.
---
### Author:  [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/89 "2013-01-16T02:13:44Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> 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?
> **[Blood on the tracks a terrible trauma never forgotten](https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/blood-on-the-tracks-a-terrible-trauma-never-forgotten-20111028-1mo8y.html)**
>
> About once a fortnight in Sydney, a CityRail train will strike and kill someone on the tracks. There is a good chance that hundreds of passengers will be inconvenienced for more than an hour. For the driver, the memories will linger for years.
About once a fortnight in Sydney. Kam’s in Melbourne. So in Australia, lots.
---
### Author:  [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/90 "2013-01-16T02:23:50Z")
> [@Gleena](#):
>
> [Blood on the tracks a terrible trauma never forgotten](http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/blood-on-the-tracks-a-terrible-trauma-never-forgotten-20111028-1mo8y.html)
>
> About once a fortnight in Sydney. Kam’s in Melbourne. So in Australia, lots.
About two months ago there was one in Adelaide as well. We rarely have jumpers though. Most of ours just seem to be retards who think that level crossings don’t apply to them.
---
### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/91 "2013-01-16T10:53:43Z")
> [@Gleena](#):
>
> [Blood on the tracks a terrible trauma never forgotten](http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/blood-on-the-tracks-a-terrible-trauma-never-forgotten-20111028-1mo8y.html)
>
> About once a fortnight in Sydney. Kam’s in Melbourne. So in Australia, lots.
Harrowing read **Gleena** …and exactly why I posted this thread in the first place.
Yeah, it’s a major PITA for those of us who get our travel-plans out of kilter. At that time of night, connecting buses have long gone, so for many it will entail ringing rellies (if they have any), jumping in a taxi (if they have the money) or doing a 5+km walk home…or waiting two MORE hours for another bus.
But it’s the train drivers who have to wear the most pain. The only dead bodies I have seen have been laid out nicely in coffins at the funeral home…how one can possibly integrate the vision of a splattered person remains beyond my comprehension, and is why I call train-jumpers fucking useless pieces of shit.
YMMV of course. ☹
---
### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/92 "2013-01-16T12:08:07Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#):
>
> Pay all of your bills and debts off in advance.
so your family doesn’t have to pay your bills?
I work for the Dutch rail roads, I think there are about 200 attempts a year, two weeks ago there were 6 in two days, here the train conductor has to get out to inspect the victim, see if he needs medical assistance.
recently there is has been a debate about the support the driver and conductor receive after the incident from the railroad company…a lot of them wind up with post traumatic stress syndrome.
A lot of those trains and locomotives are cleaned at the facility where I work, they are brought in late at night and a small group of volunteers remove all human remains from the train, they do it with a lot of respect, more then I would of expected from them…one of them told me once: ”I always treat the remains as if it was from the son of someone I knew”
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/93 "2013-01-16T13:50:44Z")
While I have nothing but raging contempt for those who suicide by train, I would always want the remains treated with respect _for the sake of surviving family and friends_ and their feelings.
---
### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/94 "2013-01-16T14:25:27Z")
They charge the family of the jumpers in Japan, but it still happens too frequently.
It only once really pissed me off because I was late to meet my wife and her friends. I was bitching and the friend mentioned the poor family. Goddamnit. Now what am I supposed to do?
Continuing to bitch makes me look like the asshole I really am, but my wife is there with her friend, and we don’t want my wife to look bad. Fuckit. If you’re going to jump, do it on a day I can bitch about it with people who can understand.
---
### Author:  [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/95 "2013-01-16T23:39:04Z")
My father committed suicide by train. I didn’t know him, so it didn’t bother me too much when we found out 9ish years later.
As an adult, I’ve been involved in the direct aftermath of a suicide (or more frequently, suicide attempts) a few times, due to my work. It seems that just as I think I’ve gone numb to the horribleness of it, people come up with something even more awful. Enough to tear that emotional wall right back down again.
---
### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/96 "2013-01-17T01:29:30Z")
A friend of mine’s best friend committed suicide in a reasonably considerate manner, shooting himself on the patio of his condo. I helped my friend clean out the condo. One of the things we found was a “To-Do” list, including canceling the cable and phone, clearing out the fridge, etc.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/97 "2013-01-17T07:34:14Z")
Well, whatever we do, let’s not improve mental health in this country. Bunch of navel gazing whiners. That’s sarcasm for the sarcasm impaired.
---
### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/98 "2013-01-17T08:05:23Z")
While we’re on the subject, please try to avoid defecating between subway cars. When you slip, fall between the cars, and get struck by the trains, it tends to screw up everybody else’s [commute](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/nyregion/train-kills-man-in-125th-street-subway-station.html).
---
### Author:  [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/99 "2013-01-17T08:07:33Z")
My stepfather is a train driver in Sydney and he has both experienced this himself and seen colleagues deal with it as well. It really is quite horrible. I’ll often hear about “another suicide” happening here or there.
And yes, I’ve heard how he sees the crew shovelling up the slush left behind.
---
### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157/100 "2013-01-17T08:08:07Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> They charge the family of the jumpers in Japan, but it still happens too frequently.
>
> It only once really pissed me off because I was late to meet my wife and her friends. I was bitching and the friend mentioned the poor family. Goddamnit. Now what am I supposed to do?
>
> Continuing to bitch makes me look like the asshole I really am, but my wife is there with her friend, and we don’t want my wife to look bad. Fuckit. If you’re going to jump, do it on a day I can bitch about it with people who can understand.
Or just go out to Aokigahara like **normal** people :mad:. Though I guess “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down” doesn’t really apply posthumously, does it?
… what?
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157.md?page=4)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-do-not-throw-yourself-under-a-train/647157.md?page=6)