Hey,
I heard about this today, the stupidity of humans never seems to stop amazing me.
All I can say is, what happened to Darwin’s law of evolution?
Update on this story:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=42229
The two girls are still in the hospital. One hopes that they will become leaders in making others aware of what can happen.
Would you steal a car?
Would you steal a TV?
Would you sunbathe on a freeway bridge?
Would you sunbathe on a railroad trestle? Yes?
Congratulations.
You’re a retard!
Figure it this way: They are local girls, and they most likely know the schedule since the trains are so infrequent. They have a feel for when the train comes and goes, so they probably figured they were okay, and could sunbathe for a couple of hours, and not have to worry. It would appear that they figured wrong. Fortunately for them, they will live to tell the tale, which is a good thing.
Bridges seem to be a natural attraction for kids, especially those over water. For years the ICG bridge over Butterfield Rd in Hillside/Berkely was a hangout for kids, for whatever reason, kids would hang out on the middle of the bridge, doing whatever it was they were doing. On more than one occasion, there were some close calls when a freigh train came through. The same held true for the bridge over the I-290 extension on the same line.
What really got to me in that article is that people would bring babies in strollers, and leave them on the tracks while they sat there fishing.
Well on the bright side, both of them can go to the 2008 Halloween party as Long John Silver.
Reminds me of the Darwin Award winning couple who decided the middle of a dark lightless stretch of roadway was the perfect place for a late night whoopie session, and got smattered by a truck.
It speaks well of the remainder of the forum that I appear to be the only one on here to have done something(s) stupid enough to make me feel empathetic for the girls.
I did firewords in a hayloft once when I was 12-13 (about the same age as the girls), there was actually a fairly pragmatic reason, but I am sure everyone would be making fun of me in my death had I not been careful enough.
By the way, do we make fun of smokers?
Gabe
P.S. What shocks me about the whole thing is that the girls were not awoken by the train wistle.
Gabe:
You’ve got some company in the corner with the dunce cap. I can only figure that God doesn’t want me to die quite yet for all the foolish things I’ve done. By all rights I should have died in a fire, fallen a thousand feet, been crushed by machinery, electrocuted, hit by a train, hit by a truck, hit by a car, slid off an icy road, been shot by a sniper, blown up by a land mine, or died of chemical poisioning long ago.
(Why don’t we mail all the comments above to the girls personally?)
RWM
I too have had my share of close calls. Many very stupid ones. We’ve all done stupid things but many of us are lucky to have avoided serious injury or death by some wierd luck…these girls just werent as lucky. When i was around that age i took a walk on the tracks on an extremely windy day…not smart. We somehow narrowly avoided gettin hit by it because one of my cousins turned around by “wierd luck” and saw it. We never actually heard the engine until it was feet from us.
In my days when I aspired to be an historian and worked for the U.S.N. historical center, I remember coming upon a tale of a Japanese shock assault commander that, during the initial stages on the assult of Davao in the Philipines, came across a bunch of sailors drinking, smoking cigars, carrying about loudly, and wearing canary yellow naval fatigues. The leader of the Japanese assault force immediately took the group of sailors for an American suicide force designed to lure him into a trap and made good his escape.
As it turns out, the group was a bunch of shipless American sailors who were impressed into the ground campain. MacArthur tried to die their white sailor fatigues in boiled water with tree bark to turn them brown for camoflauge–which failed and resulted in uniforms that probably did not help army-navy relations. One has to laugh when thinking of the American sailors sitting around with canary yellow targets on their chest, drinking, smoking cigars, cursing MacArthur, and the Japanese comander running scared.
I am glad to see that same American ingenuity that saved those sailors brought you home safe.
Gabe
AlcoRS11Nut ; you are correct about stupidity . I got an e.m. from a friend in Tacoma with pictures of a fellow trying to steal copper wire from high voltage lines . I have never seen anyone barbequed before . That was a bad time for him. Has anyone else seen that post?
When I worked 9-1-1 in a near west Chicago suburb, we had something similar happen with homeless people and live wires. In fact I have seen and heard a bunch of things in my time in public safety…
And then, there’s me… Fourth of July, about 3 years ago… brother-in-law bought some great fireworks… here’s me, inserting one in launch tube upside down, and I realized it after I lit the fuse on it… ran like heck, and so did everyone else. Afterward, I felt like a complete moron, and was far more careful for the rest of the evening’s festivities… Fortunately, no one was hurt.
As far as these girls go, what possesses someone to sunbathe on an active railway bridge??? I understand we all do dumb things, and in many cases we are able to walk away without a scratch, or just minor scratches, but, man, I simply cannot fathom that.
Here’s where they were hit.
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=43.414912&lon=-70.985943&z=19.2&r=0&src=ggl
I’m pretty sure that was meant as a rhetorical question. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t help, though. We all know that they did a stupid thing, but all of our saying to each other that they were stupid will accomplish little. I have two hopes here: that they will realize that the prosthetics they’ll wear the rest of their lives are the result of their temporary insanity (no doubt induced by summer-like weather) and they’ll be able to get the message across to their peers better than anyone else possibly could, and that nobody will attempt to keep them quiet pending a settlement in their favor. Of course, the third hope should go without saying–we wish both of them a speedy return to what will have to pass for a normal life.
I’m sitting here thinking “what about the constant cautioning of parents to stay away from train tracks?”. Then I see parents with kids in the car driving around railroad gates with trains coming right at them, and read the part that people park strollers on the tracks while swimming…
Never mind!
Carl, it was meant to be sarcastic, as some of the responses struck me as mean. I try to keep my opinions to myself on the forum and probably should have here, too. I don’t wish anyone to receive the punishment of amputation for the crime of trespassing or the foolhardiness of being unaware of trains, especially not teens who are not adult in their judgement or responsibility.
Unless these girls were intent on suicide or mentally ill, I think it’s unlikely they even knew thy had taken a significant risk. We both know there’s a sharp difference between a young person engaging in an activity that’s risky but think they can control because it’s exciting to do so, like speeding or driving drunk, and engaging in an activity where they have no idea of the risks at all. (In other words, I doubt that anyone gets a thrill from sunbathing in a place where they can almost get run over.) We both know that trains on tracks can sneak up on you, but a large number of people
It says in the story that the girls fell asleep on the bridge. That compounded the mistake. I feel bad for them.
Gabe - Your comments were very thoughtful.
Darwins theories also hit by a train. But seriously, we have youngsters in South Africa who surf on passenger suburban trains. These commuter trains are electrical, at 3000v. The game or challenge is to stand as close to the overhead current wire, and sway with train motion, avoid bridges, all while being cheered on by less clever “fans” in the train. Of course, the outcome has been deep fried youth, train delays, and public outcry. The operators have initiated education and promotional plans but…
RWM, you helped me make my point. Those two girls, whether they realize it or not yet, have grown up in a hurry, and now know something about railroads that obviously hadn’t occurred to them before. I wouldn’t wish an amputation on anyone either, but in this case it’s better than the alternative, and I hope they come to realize that.
Horrific and yet, so mind boggling!
This would be a good time to introduce that community to Operation Lifesaver speakers. I participated in it back in the 80s as an NRHS member, and it is effective.