Man fatally hit by Amtrak train while taking selfie

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

This is, of course, a terrible tragedy for this man's family.

Still, being the horrible cold-hearted human being that I am, I find my thoughts dwelling primarily on how the hell it could possibly happen:

An Oregon man was fatally struck and killed by an Amtrak train as he posted for a selfie on the tracks.

The man was on a trip from Tacoma to Portland when he stopped beside a river three miles south of Kalama, Oregon to smoke and snap photos with an unnamed woman.

CBS Seattle reports:

The northbound Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train approached the two about 10:28 a.m. Saturday, the man “walked out between the northbound and southbound set of train tracks to pose for pictures as the train passed by him,” said Charlie Rosenzweig, a Cowlitz County Sheriff’s deputy.

What the pair didn't realize while they were on the tracks snapping photos, was that a southbound Amtrak train was rapidly approaching. The train struck the man as the two posed for a photo and he died at the scene. The woman escaped unharmed.

Why take a selfie on train tracks in the first place?

If you must take a selfie on train tracks, wouldn't the first thing you'd do is check to make sure no trains are coming?

How could you be unaware that a train was coming?

-- Cass, confused.

DadofSnorf · Feb 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
This is, of course, a terrible tragedy for this man's family.

Still, being the horrible cold-hearted human being that I am, I find my thoughts dwelling primarily on how the hell it could possibly happen:

Why take a selfie on train tracks in the first place?

If you must take a selfie on train tracks, wouldn't the first thing you'd do is check to make sure no trains are coming?

How could you be unaware that a train was coming?

He probably had headphones on. My dad was a police officer for Amtrak for 25 years. When he was a uni, he saw a lot of train deaths. Most of them, he said, were people walking on the tracks with headphones in that just never saw it coming.

I've seen a guy hit by a train. That's what prompted that conversation.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

Well, but there were two of them. Could they both have been wearing headphones? And were they also wearing blindfolds? In a selfie?

-- Cass, still confused

DadofSnorf · Feb 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
Well, but there were two of them. Could they both have been wearing headphones? And were they also wearing blindfolds? In a selfie?

-- Cass, still confused

Yeah. It's weird, for sure. But people are dumb. I'm guessing booze and/or drugs were involved.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

Well, the article mentions they were smoking. It doesn't specify what they were smoking.

That would probably be the best explanation for not seeing or hearing a train, but it still strikes me as bizarre.

ETA:

By the way? The accident took place at 10:28 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

ETA:

Oh. And they were taking a trip. Driving. They'd stopped for a smoke and to take a selfie. Of course, I suppose that's no guarantee they weren't stoned out of their minds, but it does make it seem less likely. I would think you'd have to be pretty damn stoned to not notice a train coming at you, and driving like that, especially at 10:30 in the morning, would seem to be an ill-considered decision.

-- Cass, more and more confused the more she thinks about it.

cbenoi1 · Feb 23, 2015

http://www.darwinawards.com/

More specifically:

http://thechive.com/2014/04/17/darwin-award-winner-tries-to-take-selfie-with-passing-train-video/

-cb

DadofSnorf · Feb 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
Yes, the article mentions they were smoking. It doesn't specify what they were smoking.

That's probably the best explanation for not seeing or hearing the train, but it still strikes me as bizarre.

ETA:

By the way? The accident took place at 10:28 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

ETA:

Oh. And they were taking a trip. Driving. They'd stopped for a smoke and to take a selfie. Of course, I suppose that's no guarantee they weren't stoned out of their minds, but it does make it seem less likely. I would think you'd have to be pretty damn stoned to not notice a train coming at you, and driving like that, especially at 10:30 in the morning, would seem to be an ill-considered decision.

You don't even have to be high to not notice a train coming. Seriously. People are completely oblivious to the world around them.

A guy just drove off a cliff by me not too long ago. Two of them in the car. The driver wasn't on drugs or under the influence of alcohol, and he made no attempt to stop. He just plowed right through the safety fence and barrier, hurling them both off a cliff. Driver died, passenger survived.

Most people are dumb and oblivious.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

I suppose I shouldn't throw stones. I broke my toe tripping over my coffee table the other day, and I swear I never saw the coffee table coming.

Diana Hignutt · Feb 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
I suppose I shouldn't throw stones. I broke my toe tripping over my coffee table the other day, and I swear I never saw the coffee table coming.

Oh, you can't hear them coming either. They're like ninjas.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

Diana Hignutt said:
Oh, you can't hear them coming either. They're like ninjas.

What really hurt is that the couch just sat there and didn't make a move to help me.

Haggis · Feb 23, 2015

CassandraW said:
What really hurt is that the couch just sat there and didn't make a move to help me.

Couches don't care.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

My entire living room suite is utterly lacking in empathy.

backslashbaby · Feb 23, 2015

Trains come faster than people expect when they see it coming.

I live where I can see the trains cross my road at an intersection. Folks drive into the train much more often than you'd think. I'm not sure what that's all about, though, because they literally drive into the side of the train, through the cross-arms and everything.

I guess they are just used to running that stop sign. ??? It's the trains at night when crashes happen, usually.

Vince524 · Feb 23, 2015

Is is bad that I want to see the selfie he took?

I remember when I did a tour with Transit Police many years ago, they told a story of some idiot who electrocuted himself because he peed on the 3rd rail.

amergina · Feb 23, 2015

If there was a northbound train passing, it was probably making a hell of a lot of noise. Enough to mask the southbound train coming. Freight trains (which the northbound was) can be quite long and take a while to pass.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

amergina said:
If there was a northbound train passing, it was probably making a hell of a lot of noise. Enough to mask the southbound train coming. Freight trains (which the northbound was) can be quite long and take a while to pass.

I'm sure that's true. Still, I'd make damn sure that no trains were coming from any direction before I stepped out on the tracks. Better yet, I'd take my selfie somewhere else.

Actually, I probably wouldn't take the selfie at all. I don't do selfies. This will not be the way I die.

But I am only too well aware, given my own recent accident, that I am in no position to be judgmental.

Chumplet · Feb 23, 2015

amergina said:
If there was a northbound train passing, it was probably making a hell of a lot of noise. Enough to mask the southbound train coming. Freight trains (which the northbound was) can be quite long and take a while to pass.

This is the likely reason. They were concentrating so much on the one train, they didn't hear the other one.

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

backslashbaby said:
Trains come faster than people expect when they see it coming.

I'm sure that's true.

Although it does seem that every time I'm waiting for one to arrive, and can see it from a distance, that it takes absolutely forever to pull into the station.

Albedo · Feb 23, 2015

Vince524 said:
Is is bad that I want to see the selfie he took?

I remember when I did a tour with Transit Police many years ago, they told a story of some idiot who electrocuted himself because he peed on the 3rd rail.

Give me 20 mins in Photoshop, and I believe I could create one reasonable enough to be taken at face value by the internet at large.

raburrell · Feb 23, 2015

Vince524 said:
Is is bad that I want to see the selfie he took?

I remember when I did a tour with Transit Police many years ago, they told a story of some idiot who electrocuted himself because he peed on the 3rd rail.

Mythbusters did that one. Verdict was nope. (but it was a pretty funny clip)

amergina · Feb 23, 2015

Oh yeah. I was taught at an early age to respect the hell out of trains and tracks because being wrong about whether a train was coming pretty much meant death.

Liosse de Velishaf · Feb 23, 2015

I mean, you can contact the rail elsewise when peeing, but it's unlikely the pee itself would be responsible for transmitting a deadly current. God knows why anyone would even want to target an electrified subway rail while peeing. Or pee on train tracks in general. Idiots are everywhere, I guess.

kuwisdelu · Feb 23, 2015

Liosse de Velishaf said:
I mean, you can contact the rail elsewise when peeing, but it's unlikely the pee itself would be responsible for transmitting a deadly current. God knows why anyone would even want to target an electrified subway rail while peeing. Or pee on train tracks in general. Idiots are everywhere, I guess.

When you gotta go you gotta go.

Liosse de Velishaf · Feb 23, 2015

kuwisdelu said:
When you gotta go you gotta go.

Go on the platform? Or the hill by the tracks? Or a bush? Or the bathroom?

CassandraW · Feb 23, 2015

raburrell said:
Mythbusters did that one. Verdict was nope. (but it was a pretty funny clip)

Yes, I'd heard that one was a myth.

However, there have been a few bona fide subway deaths resulting from people stupidly jumping down on the tracks to fetch a glove or keys, and then either being fried by the third rail, or else being unable to get back up to the platform before being flattened by the F train.

Most subway deaths result from tragic accidents or deliberate brutality. (There have been several deaths in the last few years from nutcases pushing people in front of oncoming trains -- I always stand well away from the platform edge, just in case). But there are always people willing to do incredibly stupid things. And jumping down on subway tracks to fetch keys is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

ETA:

Although possibly not any stupider than breaking one's toe on one's own coffee table.

Man fatally hit by Amtrak train while taking selfie

CassandraW

DadofSnorf

CassandraW

DadofSnorf

CassandraW

cbenoi1

DadofSnorf

CassandraW

Diana Hignutt

Very Tired

CassandraW

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua

CassandraW

backslashbaby

*

Vince524

Are you gonna finish that bacon?

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

CassandraW

Chumplet

This hat is getting too hot

CassandraW

Albedo

Alex

raburrell

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

Liosse de Velishaf

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Liosse de Velishaf

CassandraW

Man fatally hit by Amtrak train while taking selfie

Very Tired

Evil, undead Chihuahua

~~~~*~~~~

Are you gonna finish that bacon?

Pittsburgh Strong

This hat is getting too hot

Alex

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee

Pittsburgh Strong

Revolutionize the World

*