Sometimes The Media Gets It Right. Eventually.

[Devil's Advocate]

Earlier today a man was struck by a BNSF train running along a UP track that slices through my daily commute. Here is part of the original report from a local news outlet.

Police: man miraculously survives train crashBy Eva Ruth Moravec

In what San Antonio police are calling a miracle, a man is expected to survive after he was struck by a train on the Northeast Side early Monday. The man, described by San Antonio police as being 25 years old, was apparently crawling up a steep embankment near Union Pacific's tracks near Wetmore Road and Wurzbach Parkway around 5 a.m. when he somehow fell or otherwise ended up on the tracks.

I happen to know this area very well. In fact I see it twice every day at least. As a result I knew that this story made absolutely no sense at all. There is no reason for a pedestrian to rush in front of a train around here. Thanks to our typical anti-pedestrian design there's is absolutely nothing to see or do on foot and nothing that would suddenly require you to be on the other side of the tracks. Even if there were a reason to suddenly cross the tracks a you could just walk under them instead of over them. Knowing the lay of the land allowed me to see past the rose-colored nonsense about miracles and master plans. I thought about writing in to ask a few obvious questions of Eva Ruth Moravec when I noticed the story had been modified.

Police: train carries man 200 yardsBy Eva Ruth Moravec

A man is expected to survive after he was struck by a train on the Northeast Side early Monday, San Antonio police said. The man, 22, was struck by a southbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe locomotive near Wetmore Road and Wurzbach Parkway around 5 a.m. BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said the train's engineer and conductor saw the man lying on the tracks, apparently attempting suicide, near a bridge. The crew blew the train's horn and activated its emergency brakes, officials said, but couldn't avoid striking the man.

So, hey, I guess sometimes the news media does get it right. Eventually. I'd bet you that more often than not the person on the tracks either wants to be hit or was beaten/drugged and put there by someone else. You could call this a miracle or a tragedy, but whatever you call it, it's anything BUT an accident.

 

[rrdude]

I think what causes most ped accidents is headphone, i.e., listening to your iPod, at full volume, and not paying attention.

Darwin's law partly.

Hell I get nervous walking over trestles that I "know" only see one train a day, or week, and am ALWAYS looking for an escape route, "just in case............."

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I think what causes most ped accidents is headphone, i.e., listening to your iPod, at full volume, and not paying attention. Darwin's law partly. Hell I get nervous walking over trestles that I "know" only see one train a day, or week, and am ALWAYS looking for an escape route, "just in case."

That's a good point and in fact it was the primary assumption given for a separate passenger fatality event earlier this year. My own hearing is in pretty bad shape and yet I still find train horns to be extremely loud. But I suppose if your situational awareness was completely offline and your hearing had been damaged from years of abuse and had your music going at full blast, then maybe you wouldn't hear the horn until it was right up on you.

 

[George Harris]

But I suppose if your situational awareness was completely offline and your hearing had been damaged from years of abuse and had your music going at full blast, then maybe you wouldn't hear the horn until it was right up on you.

The problem is more likely in the mass, or possibly vacuum in these cases, that lies between the ears rather than the ears, themselves.

 

[Spokker]

If it's not suicide, then it's usually caused by people immediately crossing after a train passes, not waiting for the arms to go up and being hit by a train coming in the opposite direction.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I was sitting at a light tonight just minding my own business with my car's stereo at a moderate volume. The Texas Eagle was coming through a couple hours late and I honestly didn't notice it until it was just about to enter the crossing. That was a bit of an eye opener for me. Like rrdude I try to be cautious around railroad tracks and normally hear them coming from a mile away, but not tonight. I can see how someone with earbuds jogging down the tracks could miss the quickly approaching train until it was almost upon them. Add in some additional complications like losing your job or breaking up with someone and you might just miss the train horn entirely until it was far too late. It's a tough world we live in, even though we have it better than most!