C-Train Accident

[rhiri]

I was always of the opinion "who is dumb enough to get hit by the Ctrain?!?". Until the day that I watched my ex almost step right out in front of the train at the (south) level crossing at SAIT. He was too busy thinking about an exam that day, yadda yadda, not paying attention walking about a step in front of me, saw the slower south train pass by coming from the station and went to step out right in front of the train coming north out of the tunnel. Luckily I was sort of awake that morning and grabbed him by the jacket. It was where we had crossed literally hundreds of times, but a moment of inattention just about did him in - no phone or ipod even involved.

Yes, I think stupidity is involved sometimes, especially when people dart across the tracks to try and beat a train that they see approaching.. but a moment of inattention on a bad day can just as well cause terrible accidents, too.

[mucat]

What the heck does not understanding english got anything to do with getting hit by a train?

Talking trains??

[thetransporter]

Originally posted by revelations
Meanwhile, in India ... (people learn to get the F out of the way)

that train goes faster than most cars on beyond in the F/S section

[NuclearPizzaMan]

Originally posted by rhiri
I was always of the opinion "who is dumb enough to get hit by the Ctrain?!?". Until the day that I watched my ex almost step right out in front of the train at the (south) level crossing at SAIT. He was too busy thinking about an exam that day, yadda yadda, not paying attention walking about a step in front of me, saw the slower south train pass by coming from the station and went to step out right in front of the train coming north out of the tunnel. Luckily I was sort of awake that morning and grabbed him by the jacket. It was where we had crossed literally hundreds of times, but a moment of inattention just about did him in - no phone or ipod even involved.

Yes, I think stupidity is involved sometimes, especially when people dart across the tracks to try and beat a train that they see approaching.. but a moment of inattention on a bad day can just as well cause terrible accidents, too.

Stupidity is involved in every case, including your example above.

I am surprised at the level of hand wringing "protect the people from the mean train" on an automobile enthusiast site. Maybe we should reduce the speed limit within the city to 50km/h. Slow and annoying, but it would save lives!

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by rhiri
I was always of the opinion "who is dumb enough to get hit by the Ctrain?!?". Until the day that I watched my ex almost step right out in front of the train at the (south) level crossing at SAIT. He was too busy thinking about an exam that day, yadda yadda, not paying attention walking about a step in front of me, saw the slower south train pass by coming from the station and went to step out right in front of the train coming north out of the tunnel. Luckily I was sort of awake that morning and grabbed him by the jacket. It was where we had crossed literally hundreds of times, but a moment of inattention just about did him in - no phone or ipod even involved.

Yes, I think stupidity is involved sometimes, especially when people dart across the tracks to try and beat a train that they see approaching.. but a moment of inattention on a bad day can just as well cause terrible accidents, too.

Yeah, cause ringing bells and blinking lights aren't there to shake you out of your "inattention" ... There's a guy at the fish creek station, he's blind and has a seeing eye dog. Are you telling me the dog is smarter than these people? Actually , don't answer that, I know the answer is "yes."

Also with the guy being blind, he probably can hear the bells and the c-train just as well as we can.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by 403Gemini


Yeah, cause ringing bells and blinking lights aren't there to shake you out of your "inattention" ... There's a guy at the fish creek station, he's blind and has a seeing eye dog. Are you telling me the dog is smarter than these people? Actually , don't answer that, I know the answer is "yes."

Also with the guy being blind, he probably can hear the bells and the c-train just as well as we can.

Blew my mind how well he navigated the train area when I first started seeing him.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Maxt

Agreed....
The design of this system is safe assuming, the users are all the perfect human.. Everyone is paying 100% perfect attention, has nothing else going on in their lives, has all senses intact, and is fluent in English, which we know is not the case in a multicultural society.. The look both ways sign really means nothing to a lot of people in this city, they have zero idea of what it says.

The C-train is the same, the design of pedestrian/train at speed interaction at crossings is just stunned. Cheap, but stunned.

The fact that the train is ground level, IS stupid, but nothing will change the fact now, and it isn't like the train is SUDDENLY street level. It's always been that way.

Asides from height, there's nothing wrong with the design of pedestrian crossings. The REAL problem is that everyone expects that the world has been dummied up for them, so they don't need to think for themselves at all anymore.

Let's say the city ponied up the dough to put magnetically held electronic gates at the crossings... then what? You don't think people (like hoody guy in the video who survived) wouldn't just jump over the gate?

[clem24]

Originally posted by NuclearPizzaMan
Stupidity is involved in every case, including your example above.

I guess the politically correct term is "human error", which is to blame for probably 99.9% of CTrain accidents and just any accident really...

There was an article in the Herald today where they interviewed a driver who hit a guy back in August and killed him. He said it best: “One guy got hit, but everybody suffered”. There's nothing he can do. You can't swerve; all you can do is hit the e-brake and close your eyes.

[kenny]

I know grade separation for the LRT tracks is uber expensive but I don't see why Calgary Transit doesn't eliminate at grade pedestrian crossings (or why they added them to older stations in the first place).

[dandia89]

Originally posted by kenny
I know grade separation for the LRT tracks is uber expensive but I don't see why Calgary Transit doesn't eliminate at grade pedestrian crossings (or why they added them to older stations in the first place).

I don't get this either, it couldn't be THAT expensive. plus, it is clearly needed as how often this is happening

[-relk-]

Originally posted by NuclearPizzaMan


Stupidity is involved in every case, including your example above.

I am surprised at the level of hand wringing "protect the people from the mean train" on an automobile enthusiast site. Maybe we should reduce the speed limit within the city to 50km/h. Slow and annoying, but it would save lives!

Stupidity is not involved in every case. There is a difference between stupidity and not paying attention. Stupidity would be seeing the train coming and trying to beat the train across the tracks. Not paying attention involves seeing the first train leaving, assuming the lights and sounds are for that train, and having already checked the other direction of the track for another train, assume it is safe to go.

[dandia89]

[mucat]

Originally posted by -relk-


Stupidity is not involved in every case. There is a difference between stupidity and not paying attention. Stupidity would be seeing the train coming and trying to beat the train across the tracks. Not paying attention involves seeing the first train leaving, assuming the lights and sounds are for that train, and having already checked the other direction of the track for another train, assume it is safe to go.

The amount of stupidity in your post bothers me

Ok, this doesn't make sense at all.

[Skyline_Addict]

Originally posted by -relk-


Stupidity is not involved in every case. There is a difference between stupidity and not paying attention. Stupidity would be seeing the train coming and trying to beat the train across the tracks. Not paying attention involves seeing the first train leaving, assuming the lights and sounds are for that train, and having already checked the other direction of the track for another train, assume it is safe to go.

Yes, but one could also argue that not paying attention while near the train tracks is stupid(ity).

Kind of like how if I don't wear my seatbelt while I drive my car. In one scenario, I could have been "unaware" to put it on and in the other, I could have intentionally not put it on. Both are in the same sense, stupid, imo.

I think you're mixing up innocence (unaware of circumstances) with intent (see train coming, still try to run).

[doomdealer]

Originally posted by -relk-
Not paying attention involves seeing the first train leaving, assuming the lights and sounds are for that train, and having already checked the other direction of the track for another train, assume it is safe to go.

Assuming is what gets people killed.

The rule is simple: If the blinking lights and alarm sounds are on, don't make assumptions. Stay and wait until warning lights have turned off before crossing.

Making an assumption and crossing while the alarms are still ringing is, imo, stupidity.

[Merritt]

Just make the pedestrian gates automatic.

[lilmira]

Originally posted by Merritt
Just make the pedestrian automatic.

Fixed

[Go4Long]

Originally posted by dandia89

I don't get this either, it couldn't be THAT expensive. plus, it is clearly needed as how often this is happening

Again, it's this method of thinking that just doesn't make sense to me, or I think anyone else involved with the railway. It's this "people are getting hit by the train, the railway (in this case Calgary transit) should move their trains to stop people from being able to walk in front of them" I mean seriously, why is the default to protect people from themselves, why can't it be to teach people to learn how to protect their own existence? Moving train tracks is expensive...think like $1 million dollars a mile for signalled track at grade, why is it the responsibility of the railway to move, and not the people to learn? What do you think would happen to our already high fares if we expected them to bury or raise every mile of track they have in the city?

It's the same thing with so many things these days, this mentality of, well, people aren't fending for themselves, better bring in a law to protect them from their own ignorance. It just doesn't work for me. It's darwin, plain and simple. Many of the people on this board grew up in a time when you didn't need to wear a seat belt, car seats were a trivial idea (they used to have things called car beds), with no airbags, no active restraint seatbelts, no such thing as a crumple zone, and we're all still here typing. But because the stupidest/naivest people in amongst us were to stupid/naive to look out for their own safety things became mandatory. A normal person would never dream of getting on a motorcycle without a helmet, why? because if you fall there's nothing between your face and the pavement, but because some people weren't smart enough to know that on their own Voilla, helmets are mandatory.

[/rant]

[Guillermo]

you guys, these were accidents. everyday i walk through the hallways at the U of C, where half of the people are texting on their phones etc. instead of paying attention to where they are walking. it is not uncommon for people who are walking in crowds to not be paying attention to what is happening around them - and in fact, i bet many of the critics here are guilty of this themselves. so I am not surprised that there are people crossing the tracks who are looking at their phone... maybe this isn't what we would consider a "safe" practice, but certainly it doesn't make the few who get hit by trains stupid.

if you die from a concussion playing hockey, does that make you stupid? what about if you fall to your death rock climbing - are you stupid then? what if you're walking to work and slip on the ice, falling into traffic and getting crushed to death. are you stupid?

these were accidents, have a bit of respect for the friends and families and stop insulting these people.

[-relk-]

Originally posted by Skyline_Addict


Yes, but one could also argue that not paying attention while near the train tracks is stupid(ity).

Kind of like how if I don't wear my seatbelt while I drive my car. In one scenario, I could have been "unaware" to put it on and in the other, I could have intentionally not put it on. Both are in the same sense, stupid, imo.

I think you're mixing up innocence (unaware of circumstances) with intent (see train coming, still try to run).

You are right, I was mixing those up.

After thinking about it, stupidity is all subjective. I personally do not think that just because someone walked in front of a train, they are instantly labelled as stupid. None of us know the circumstances, and never will, so it is hard for me to label it as stupidity. Yes I bet some, if not most, cases would be stupidity, but to assume that it was always stupidity is dumb (not you, but the poster before).

For example, say this person just got off the phone with their spouse saying that her baby boy was in the hospital, its a very good bet that if she just heard this, she will be in panick mode and probably will be running to her car. This is a big "what if" scenario though.

All in all, my argument before was a "stupid" one and in the long run, stupidity is defined differently by different people.