Article: Rail track dash videos show commuters just inches from death

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Rail track dash videos show commuters just inches from death

Rail track dash videos show commuters just inches from death
Article from: The Courier-Mail

December 21, 2009 11:00pm

SHOCK film of people cheating death by inches after dashing across rail tracks in front of speeding trains has been released to highlight their ''incredible stupidity''.

In the amazing footage, two commuters were split seconds from being killed by passenger trains travelling at up to 100km/h.

The videos of the two incidents - on the Caboolture and Ipswich lines - has been released by Queensland Rail in a bid to halt the increasing incidents of commuters playing chicken with oncoming trains.

In one of the incidents, at Deagon Station a middle aged woman comes within half a second of being hit an oncoming train, forcing the driver to hit the emergency brakes.

And at Walloon Station, a high school student runs across the track while focussed on a train in the distance. He narrowly escapes being hit by a train he didn't see coming in the opposite direction at 100km/h.

Both incidents occurred within the past five weeks on the southeast's Citytrain network.

QR Passenger Executive General Manager Paul Scurrah described the actions as ''incredible stupidity''.

''These people are trying to outrun trains which travel quickly and quietly and weigh more than 400 tonnes. It is only luck these incidents didn't result in a more serious and tragic outcome,'' he said.

''Obviously they leave the train driver shaken and, sadly, they happen all too often.''

For more information on the incidents, and the growing problem of passengers risking their lives by running in front of oncoming trains, see tomorrow's Courier-Mail.

[Derwan]

Deagon is on the Shorncliffe line - not Caboolture or Ipswich.

The image shows the Deagon incident - but when you play the video, it only shows the Walloon incident.  The Deagon one looks closer so it'd be interesting to see the video of that one.

[#Metro]

This is completely nuts!
Just as bad as the cars going through the crossings!

[ozbob]

I was at Wacol one day, and observed three guys ran across the tracks in front of very rapidly approaching SMU. 

They had safety clothing on, bright orange shirts, guess they thought that made them safe or something ....

Another day a driver drove around the boom gates before the imminent arrival of a sparks, only problem he didn't bother observing that a coal train was bearing down from the other direction, just missed ...

Until these fools are booked and made to pay big time, they just carry on as irresponsible nut cases.

[#Metro]

I would like to see new all stations/refurbished boxed in like the busway at King George Square.
You can't touch or go anywhere until the train has made a complete stop.

People are just plain dumb or are drunk/not there. Many a time I have seen people cross tracks, had the door close on them or sit on the platform edge with their legs dangling over in a position; waiting for a train to rush past and amputate them. I know people want to do "public education" but people are too busy these days and are bombarded with 1000s of messages in advertising every day, the message simply won't get through.

A good campaign would be to briefly alter the PIDs at train stations from Train destination to people's names (random names for privacy)
and then have "Terminated" in the departure column. Then the screen could update with a railsmart message.

There really needs to be a graphic horror section in the drivers licence book.
More fare gates at stations (transitioning to a closed rail system) would make offenders easier to catch through GoCard. Finally more frequent trains would make people less desperate to catch that train.

[O_128]

I would like to see new all stations/refurbished boxed in like the busway at King George Square.
You can't touch or go anywhere until the train has made a complete stop.

People are just plain dumb or are drunk/not there. Many a time I have seen people cross tracks, had the door close on them or sit on the platform edge with their legs dangling over in a position; waiting for a train to rush past and amputate them. I know people want to do "public education" but people are too busy these days and are bombarded with 1000s of messages in advertising every day, the message simply won't get through.

A good campaign would be to briefly alter the PIDs at train stations from Train destination to people's names (random names for privacy)
and then have "Terminated" in the departure column. Then the screen could update with a railsmart message.

There really needs to be a graphic horror section in the drivers licence book.
More fare gates at stations (transitioning to a closed rail system) would make offenders easier to catch through GoCard. Finally more frequent trains would make people less desperate to catch that train.

i said this a while back but the answer was that until our trains are automated  they arent able to stop perfectly in line with the station doors

[#Metro]

i said this a while back but the answer was that until our trains are automated  they arent able to stop perfectly in line with the station doors

Hmm... does it have to be perfect? The doors could be badly aligned and passengers could still (dis)embark, just make the space between the barrier and the platform edge wider (it is wide already?). I've noticed a black dot for 3 car units to stop accurately at the platform, and that seems to work.

I guess this is a "progressive rollout" idea. Truth is, it is impossible to stop people from sacrificing themselves.

There are a few more rail crashes, near misses and reportedly even deaths for those who search on 'You Tube'.
Horrible stuff. There is actually a short one of a Connex customer (Melbourne) who appears to somehow have got wedged torso-first into the gap that exists between the train and the (shorter) platform. Another reason to have screens.

I don't watch the death ones, out of respect.

If you want to know if there is something indestructible (no persons injured in this video), there is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJflu7z4QyI&feature=fvw

[#Metro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss3J-gmadE4&feature=related

And one from SBS "Top Gear" (no persons injured).
It is a bit silly, but there are some useful bits.

There needs to be some research into which demographic is more likely to drive across boom gates.
There is a suggestion that it might actually be older people. In that case the any campaign would have to take this into account. I don't know if it is the same in Australia.

The crash test shows (slow motion) that everyone in the car would not survive as all seating areas are crushed.