# Train surfing? It’s a thing. 2 SF CA teens died in the last 2 weeks (WARNING: graphic photo) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2024, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590 "2024-02-15T03:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [November 8, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/61 "2024-11-08T20:31:09Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Unsurprisingly, it’s still happening. Yep. Stupid and teens go together like white and rice. Always have and always will. Ref @deltogre just above I bet Og & Grog used to dare each other to pull the stegosaurus’s tail. Thagomizer and all. Ref the cited article I realize the NY Daily News is a tabloid. but I thought it was interesting they kept using the term “cops” to refer to the police. Not wrong, but pretty familiar / informal for a news outlet. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/62 "2025-09-25T02:59:32Z")
16 dead in the last 3 years > **[How the NYPD is using drones to combat deadly subway surfing](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nypd-using-drones-combat-deadly-183000606.html)** > > The NYPD says it has saved more than 200 people with a program that uses drones to canvass moving trains for subway surfers. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/63 "2025-09-25T20:05:17Z")
Natural selection at work. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/64 "2025-09-25T23:56:10Z")
Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/65 "2025-09-26T00:30:45Z")
Social Darwinism is pseudoscience. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/66 "2025-09-26T02:00:00Z")
It’s false to say it has saved more than 200 people. Instead it arrested 200 people. The substantial majority of subway surfers don’t die doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/67 "2025-09-26T06:20:42Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Social Darwinism is pseudoscience. Good thing nobody mentioned or implied Social Darwinism, then, isn’t it? ---
**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:** [September 27, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/68 "2025-09-27T14:41:47Z")
Further … If knowledge of the drones is or becomes widespread, then X number of additional would-be surfers will be deterred. The publicity over the 200 hundred arrestees may prevent 1000 other kids from trying it. Different point: When I was a dumb kid, there were any number of risky things we all did. But a common theme was that once was generally not enough. If we did it and it wasn’t beyond terrifying, we’d do it again. And again. The thing which eventually stopped most of our risky activities was somebody getting hurt doing it. Fortunately my circle of influence never suffered any life-long maimings or deaths. But we came close a time or three. Some fraction of train surfers are one-and-done. Another fraction will be in the “keep doing it until a new fad comes along or we grow out of it”. And the final fraction will be “keep doing it until we get hurt” in a game where the minimum hurt is real severe, with fatal injuries the norm. Every kid in that last group whose multi-ride train surfing career is stunted by the drones is a save too. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/69 "2025-09-27T15:21:34Z")
I expect drones are only going to fly in daylight. So to avoid them train surfers might switch to night. This is going to be riskier because it’s much harder to see the obstacles you need to duck under. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/70 "2025-09-27T15:40:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When I was a dumb kid, there were any number of risky things we all did. But a common theme was that once was generally not enough. If we did it and it wasn’t beyond terrifying, we’d do it again. And again. I can tell you that I have done things so terrifyingly risky that I did not repeat the experience a second time. On the other hand, speaking of adrenaline junkies, it is not confined to teens. I cannot say what the average age of wingsuit BASE jumpers or free-solo cliff climbers is, but people continue to do so even though the life expectancy is not high. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/71 "2025-09-27T15:58:31Z")
Yeah. I too have had the “Once was almost more than I could stand; no way in hell am I doing _that_ again!” experience. For me personally, I was never so much an adrenaline junkie as just a kid who didn’t always appreciate the full range and magnitude of risk(s) about to be taken. I think the true junkies are some manner of arrested development as to risk taste, coupled with a very cavalier attitude towards the probability of being killed. I have often wondered what goes through the mind of an aggressive risk taker who’s just now realizing their latest adventure will be their last and they have a few seconds left to consider their fate before its over. Is it regret, or elation, or just surprise? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/72 "2025-10-02T01:04:29Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > In 1902, when he was 16, my great great grandfather hopped on the back bumper of a streetcar, as was apparently the custom for careless young men. Another streetcar came along, its brakes failed, and he was smooshed between the streetcars. His leg was so badly injured that it had to be amputated. I was researching events in my area around that time and found a story where a school kid was waving to his teacher who was on an interurban. He must have been standing on a parallel set of tracks. The teacher probably took that image to her grave. It was hard for me to just read it. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/73 "2025-10-02T01:36:29Z")
My Dad grew up in 1930s/40s Chicago. Grabbing the rear bumper of passing cars and “skating” along the snowy / icy streets in your leather-soled street shoes was commonplace. With another car 15-20 feet behind. Between that, WWII, Korea, etc., when I count up the odds against my existence it’s a sobering calculation. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/74 "2025-10-05T22:42:33Z")
Two more deaths yesterday. > **[There have been 5 subway surfing deaths in NYC this year](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/5-subway-surfing-deaths-nyc-121716346.html)** > > NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – Five people have died while subway surfing so far this year, according to the NYPD. Early Saturday morning, two teenage girls were found dead after subway surfing near the Marcy Avenue and Broadway station in Brooklyn, sources... ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/75 "2025-10-05T22:54:35Z")
Such a damned shame, such a waste of young lives that could have moved on from stupid teen stuff to a worthwhile life. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/76 "2025-10-06T13:09:54Z")
Thank you, I couldn’t remember the term we used. Skitching! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/77 "2025-10-06T15:38:36Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Never underestimate the power of that endorphin rush when a stranger “likes” your social media post. More powerful than crack, and easier to get. Sadly, the Darwin Award comes to mind here, and I think all the news media attention on this will result in continued risky behavior and more maiming/deaths. It has zero to do with social media. The names are spread more rapidly and wider because of social media. But as many other Dopers have said in this thread, kids will be kids and people of all ages have been riding outside of train cars almost since trains were invented. I’ve lived in NYC since 1981 and spent a lot of those years riding the #7 train that goes between Hudson Yards and Flushing, Queens. Kids have been riding that line, not exclusively but for some odd reason it’s a hot choice, since well before I got to NYC. That’d be decades before social media. And we can and should set aside the tired trope, “Oh…boys will be boys” Yesterday 2 girls [died surfing the J Train in Brooklyn.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-girls-die-surfing-nyc-subway-train-rcna235638) ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/78 "2025-10-06T16:16:24Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > > [@snowthx](#): > > > > Never underestimate the power of that endorphin rush when a stranger “likes” your social media post. More powerful than crack, and easier to get. Sadly, the Darwin Award comes to mind here, and I think all the news media attention on this will result in continued risky behavior and more maiming/deaths. > > It has zero to do with social media. The names are spread more rapidly and wider because of social media. Zero? From the article you linked: _Norma Nazario, whose 15-year-old son Zackery died in 2023, [filed a wrongful death lawsuit against ByteDance, TikTok and Meta in 2024.](https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/suing-social-media-after-subway-surfing-death-244389445515)_ _She told NBC News NOW that her son was introduced to “subway surfing” on social media. Zackery died after his head struck a beam while he rode atop a train that was traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge._ _The lawsuit says that the social media companies “intentionally design and develop their products to encourage, enable, and push material to teens and children that Defendants know to be problematic and highly detrimental to their minor users’ mental and physical health.”_ ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/79 "2025-10-06T17:55:35Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Zero? From the article you linked: A litigant can claim anything looking for someone deep-pocketed to blame. That proves nothing, other than _someone with something to gain_ claims to believe something. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590/80 "2025-10-06T18:30:32Z")
You guys really think social media has “zero” influence on young people doing stupid stuff? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-surfing-it-s-a-thing-2-sf-ca-teens-died-in-the-last-2-weeks-warning-graphic-photo/997590.md?page=5)