Another Tragedy Re Youths On Trestle

[JackInCT]

From CNN on 02/21/10 Verbatim Copy & Paste

Train Hits, Kills 3 Youths In Melbourne (FL)
Victims Were Crossing Crane Creek Trestle Bridge

Authorities in Melbourne say three girls were struck and killed by a train on the Crane Creek trestle bridge.

Melbourne fire and police departments received phone calls shortly before 6:30 p.m. reporting that there were youths who had been walking on the bridge, one reporting that one of the victims had fallen into the creek.

Investigation revealed that a male youth and three girls had been walking southbound across the bridge near New Haven and Prospect avenues.

Police said the boy crossed the bridge ahead of the girls, saw the southbound train heading toward them and tried to warn them. None of the three were able to get to safety before they were fatally struck.

The names of the victims have not yet been released pending notification of next of kin.

This case is being investigated by the Melbourne Police Department and Florida East Coast Railway Police. At this time, it is unknown why the juveniles were walking on the train tracks.

Melbourne firefighters and police searched the area with the help of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office helicopter and the Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department's Water Rescue Unit.

Me Here: Operation Lifesaver, apparently, is ONLY a partial solution to these never ending stories re young people being where they should not be. Blaming the parents will accomplish NOTHING, nor will shrugging it off as some kind of Darwin event. These are nothing less than a waste of human life, i. e., human potential. If the typical reader of RailPictures forums, can't devise better, more effective strategies (via these forums)to respond to these events, you can bet that our politicians and public safety officials won't be able to come up with them on their own. The members of this forums need to make their collectives voices heard since a good many are parents themselves; they are the real experts.

[Joe the Photog]

Some people are just stupid. Others make a really bad error in judgement and pay dearly for that. You will never stop every senseless death whether it's people on railroad tracks or college kids binge drinking. As a parent, I tell my kids often that railroad tracks are not places to play or walk on. Who knows? Maybe the parents in the above story said the same thing. And when I was a kid, I played on rairoad tracks, walked across railroad trestles and put pennies on the tracks. Somehow by the grace of God I'm still here.

[JRMDC]

Originally Posted by JackInCT

Me Here: Operation Lifesaver, apparently, is ONLY a partial solution to these never ending stories re young people being where they should not be. Blaming the parents will accomplish NOTHING, nor will shrugging it off as some kind of Darwin event. These are nothing less than a waste of human life, i. e., human potential. If the typical reader of RailPictures forums, can't devise better, more effective strategies (via these forums)to respond to these events, you can bet that our politicians and public safety officials won't be able to come up with them on their own. The members of this forums need to make their collectives voices heard since a good many are parents themselves; they are the real experts.

One comment, negative, sorry, on this well-intentioned post. Where are these so-called real experts? Does the subset of RP forum readers that are parents really have any special expertise on keeping young people out of trouble, just because we like to go trackside and take pictures? I don't think so. Like Joe said, or rather implied, there will always be senseless deaths. I, as an RP forum participant and parent, have absolutely no strategies to offer, sorry. What ideas I might possess, down the road (as my kids get older!), have the usual outlets to express them; in my view this forum is not the place to discuss safety of our youth.

[crazytiger]

I think that it is just really bad judgement on the victims part. How do you fix that? Well who knows. If people want to be stupid, there is not a whole lot we can do to prevent that. I don't have a solution because, fundamentally, PEOPLE ARE STUPID.

[TheRoadForeman]

Originally Posted by JRMDC

One comment, negative, sorry, on this well-intentioned post. Where are these so-called real experts? Does the subset of RP forum readers that are parents really have any special expertise on keeping young people out of trouble, just because we like to go trackside and take pictures? I don't think so. Like Joe said, or rather implied, there will always be senseless deaths. I, as an RP forum participant and parent, have absolutely no strategies to offer, sorry. What ideas I might possess, down the road (as my kids get older!), have the usual outlets to express them; in my view this forum is not the place to discuss safety of our youth.

Excellent response. Are people stupid? You bet, we all are every now and then. However, I would put tragedies like this on the "It will NEVER happen to me category". Education does help to a point and OLS classes are a great start but, it is impossible for a carrier to enforce trespassing laws on every square inch of their property and parents to keep their children on a leash constantly as they get older. So, instances like these foolish kids playing will happen many times over. Sad, but true.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by crazytiger

I think that it is just really bad judgement on the victims part.

Agreed. I mean, really...who doesn't jump off a bridge when faced with the choice of landing in water (and possibly living) or getting hit by a train? Makes no sense to me.

[J]

In the 1960's I was visiting an ATSF main track in Southern California with my father. I remember being intrigued by a block indicator and seeing the rust on the spikes and base of the rail that he described as caused by toilets (presumably to keep me from touching the track structure and getting my hands dirty). I wanted to walk across a short girder bridge when he simply asked, "What would you do if a train came?" A fairly simple concept, never forgotten.

[Ken Carr]

I agree with JRMDC and Foreman, along with this simple example humans are human they make mistakes, learn from them, sometimes tragically. there's no one answer fits all, there's no cure, education, engineering, enforcement tackles only part of this problem, which is one of many problems facing all of us. I and my fellow OLS presenters do what we do, just as many of us do from rails, LEO's, teachers etc. But know regardless of what you do somewhere, some how some one else will learn the hard way about trains.

[Chase55671]

I've never participated in an OLS class, but I presume it most likely focuses on the obvious factors of "no trespassing" and so on.

Personally, if I were to run an OL presentation, I wouldn't sit there and preach to a bunch of teenagers, as I know they probably wouldn't listen. I'd simply put together a slide show of images and several videos showing what happens when idiotic people come face to face with a moving train. I think that'd probably scare them to death, or at least enough that they'd never walk down the right of way again.

I'm sure my theory has it's flaws, as I'm sure someone would think the material was too graphic to be sharing with their children, but in reality, it would be a simple and rather effective concept to comprehend.

They may already teach this stuff at these classes, as I previously said, I am uncertain what takes place.

Chase

[crazytiger]

More stupidity...

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by crazytiger

More stupidity...

Wow, there is so much fail in that article, starting with the title.

[crazytiger]

This is an understatement: “It certainly is unusual for an emergency vehicle to be in the path of one of our trains,”