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Operation Lifesaver: trespasser deaths increase in 2015
The current fad of professional photographers using railroad tracks as settings for clients’ “portraits” is a tragedy waiting to happen. I recently opened an InstaGram account and was astonished to see so many formal (and amateur) shots taken at all sorts of active r-o-w locations, including a single track bridge with highly polished rails! These photos weren’t on IG’s rail-related pages, but on the random “Explore Posts.” I fear a needed crackdown is coming and it won’t be good for railfans. (BTW, InstaGram is a good place to view and post railfan pics, although they vary widely in quality.)
Its safe to say all the nation’s boxcars are all covered with graffiti. Couple this with other cars types and at least 250,000 cars have been vandalized. That is one quarter of a million instances of trespassing which remain ignored. The hypocrisy here is amazing. Vandals continue to get a pass. Its time to quit “cherry picking” the trespassers and make an effort to stop ALL trespassers.
I agree with Mr. Norton.
Some of the trespasser deaths were suicides. Other were murders - where the dead bodies are dumped on the ROW. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine a cause of death after the body has been turned into ground beef.
This article gives “rates”. “According to a news release, the rail trespass causality rate is 1.23, the highest level in the last decade, and the highway-rail incident rate is 2.79, the lowest since 2012.” These stats cannot be “rates” without citing the proportionality. For example, a rate of 2.79 means nothing. Is this per one thousand people? is this 2.79 per one million people? Is this incident rate of 2.79 the number of highway-rail incidents per one thousand railroad crossings? How about some clarity.