I am tired of these headlines like this, Like the train went off the track and hit her[xx(][xx(]. Is there a better way of saying this?
How about “Woman Crosses Into Path of Oncoming Train”?
Gene Pool Gets Another Cleaning: story at 11
Don’t get me wrong, I like trains as much as the next guy and hate to see headlines that wrongly dispairage them. However, that woman’s mistake cost her her life, and I don’t think it proper to state “gene pool gets another cleaning.”
I would be willing to bet that everyone on here has at least done something silly when they weren’t paying attention that would have cost them their lives if they had the same luck as the poor woman in the headline above–at least three times.
I don’t mean to sound like a moral bully. But, if I or someone I love happened to be daydreaming/have my head in the clouds–like we are all inclined to do at times–and inadvertantly meet my maker, I hope someone defends me when someone says that I have been clensed from the gene pool.
As for the headline trainfinder22–I mean kissmycabose–I certainly understand your point, but I think it is gramaticaly correct and was not intended to dispairage trains.
Gabe
De mortius nil nisi bene: speak nothing but good of the dead (Chilo).
I, for one, find nothing wrong with the headline (other than the spelling of “woman”, unless it was more than one, in which case they “get” hit). It’s concise, and to the point. In fact, it’s better than “Train Hits Woman”, because “Woman” is the subject in your headline, indicating that getting hit was her action. And that much is correct.
The first two sentences are going to put the spin on the story, and one can only hope that they point out that the woman was trespassing, or on the wrong side of gates or other signals.
I understand your sentiment. However, I work in a profession where attention to detail and situational awarness is everything. A moments inattention or loss of SA can lead to rapid and often fatal feedback. Everyone makes mistakes and daydreams and loses SA now and again, even me. But that being said, cell phone chatting soccer moms, piloting thier minivans with little regard to anything and anyone else around, or folks walking down a railroad track, or a dude trying to beat a train around the gates blatantly ignoring the signs, bells, horns and such…don’t get alot of sympathy. The only way to be hit by a train, other than having it leap the track and get you, is to be on the tracks.
dharmon,
Just so you understand, I am not trying to be confrontive with you personally and I certainly agree with your sentiment that it is follish behavior on the part of the victim. Had she not have been killed, I would probably be in line for comenting on how foolish her actions were. I am just saying that dying should be punishment enough.
Gabe
Unless their death serves as a warning to others, will they have died in vain? (i.e. their death is meaningless?)
I agree!
How about …
“Woman loses control of senses, strikes innocent train. Train and crew OK. News at 11 !”
Maybe “tresspassing woman hit by train”?
It’s all good. I didn’t take it that way. I just have some strong feelings about it. When talking to the family of someone who has died in the line of duty, I usually make a point of not telling them your son/husband/father dies becasue he was stupid. But in the sanctity of the workspace, the disscussion will be…x died becasue … he messed up… he knew better… he had no business doing that…what was he thinking?..
In SoCal it get quite frustrating listening to the news of folks being hit by a train…walked right in front of it…in the crews best guess, commiting suicide, then to have the NIMBYs go on and on about how the government and RRs need to do some thing about senseless killings at the hands of the murdering trains…not hmmmm if your not on the tracks…it’s real, real hard to get hit by one. People use more sense crossing the street than an RR track…and here in CA that still ain’t alot of sense…anyway…I didn’t take it as personal, I’m just a big fan of personal responsibility.
How about, “Tonight at 11, What does this train(Show picture of the train) and this Woman(show the picture of the woman) have in common? Tune in and find out.”
I know it may sound a bit heartless, but I think it is the best way to say it without just flat out saying it.
How bout this instead of Gene Pool…
Train Crew Shaken But Unhurt Following Collision
I have posted a few of the more creative ways people get slightly killed out here by doing stupid things around trains, like last year the guy I submitted to the Darwin Awards who though it would be real funny to watch a train drag a shopping cart so he tied a rope to it , wrapped the other end around a peice of metal so it could easily get caught and a threw the rope over a slow 15mph train. It doesnt catch so our hero runs up to the end of the rope and throws it over again, Bing, it catches not only the train, but also our Hero! who gets tangled in the rope and slowly dragged to his Darwinesque Death. Stupid Stupid Stupid, did I mention his 14 year old son witnessed the whole thing…Did his family own up and say “Yeah he was great guy but dumb as a bag of hammers, We’re gonna miss him” Nah, it will be “Its the Railroads fault because if they hadnt built the rail line 100 years ago so close to where we moved too, none of this would ever had happened…” Yeah it would, only it would have been a Tractor/Trailer or a UPS truck or a Golf Cart… Every year out here I have to read or hear on the tube that another innocent trespasser was just minding there own business when they were suddenly out of nowhere killed by a train that instantanoiusly appeared, they then later mention that the victim was jogging on the ROW while wearing headphones…
Sorry but my capacity for compassion runs thin for people who get killed while ignoring the warning lights, going around gates, pulling pranks, or jogging whilst wearing headphones…Sympathy and compassion for the families, and the crews , but not for Numbnuts who throw ropes at passing trains while listening to their tunes on a walkman…
The “Full story at 11:00” bothers me more than the other details. I once saw a local tv station announce " School burns, tune in at 11:00 for details". Using sensational headlines without giving the full story just causes lots of worry for people wondering who was involved in the incident.
I have to agree with Dan and Vic. I have - maybe not politically correct - not a lot of sympathy for people who go through life wanting everyone else to watch out for them and protect them. They take no personal responsibilities and always seem to find others that will rush out to protect them. You know - Fools Rush In…
Mook
It is not that I don’t think people should practice good personal responsibility. I think the phrase “it is the woman’s fault she got hit by the train” is perfectly acceptable. I just don’t think one should denegrate the dead.
I see it very similarly to highway accidents. All of us break highway rules, some intentionally, others because of lapses in concentration. It is a matter of luck that our lapse of concentration caused us to vere six inches over the center line while no one was there. It is also a matter of “luck” that someone else was not so lucky and there was a tractor trailor there when their concentration lapsed.
I don’t think I would believe anyone who said they never changed lanes without checking their blindspot as well as they should have or inadvertantly swerved over the center line. Heck, statistically, 84% of us have driven while legally intoxicated at one point in our lives. From a personal responsibility point we are no better than the woman–just luckier.
I don’t really see how accidentally getting hit by a train is any different than highway accidents caused by lapses of concentration–except you might argue it is even worse to lose your concentration on the highway because you might take someone else with you, chances are you are not going to hurt the train. It is the woman’s fault–I am not saying it isn’t–and no one should blame it on trains. I just think we should all realize that we all have moments where lapses in concentration might have cost us our lives–but fate smiled upon us. Her lapse of concentration was no different from ours. Doesn’t make her right; just makes her deserving of not being made fun of.
Gabe
It takes the edge off the morning commute
Safety Officer hat coming on here. The term accident with regards to getting hit by a train doesn’t apply. It is a mishap or an incident, because it was entirely avoidable. An accident is something that can be avoided. One has to be on the tracks to be hit by a train, and that is avoidable.