Two people got hit by two separate trains today. In suburban Philadelphia.
Livingood said the train’s engineer saw the teen and blew the horn. The youth continued to walk, either not hearing the horn due to the headphones, or hearing it but expecting the train to pass him safely on the outbound track.
Now, trains are really cool. They look awesome, they can go super fast, and you can drink on them. It’s always sad, then, when a sweet, well-meaning train barrels someone down. It’s not like those accidents are rare, either. My family in Eastern Europe has a history of being hit by trains — no joke. But, I never really understood how people get hit by trains. It’s not like a train suddenly appears; you have multiple backup systems that are there to prevent you from being hit by a train, and to let you know that a train is coming. For instance:
1. You can see a train coming. Unless you are blind or it is coming straight up behind you and you are standing in the middle of the tracks, which — why were you doing that in the first place?!
2. You can hear a train coming. Trains make a pretty distinguishable noise, and they have a horn, and they’re actually really loud when they’re approaching. And then, even if you’re visually and aurally impaired…
3. You can feel a train coming. Vibrations, no need to say more.
And even if your backup systems fail and you somehow only have several seconds to get out of harm’s way, you can do just that — move. Get out of the way.
Seriously people, stop getting hit by trains.
