Western Railroad Discussion > Photo shoot on tracks kills student in Texas

http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Pedestrian-struck-by-train-in-Navasota-415898003.html

Posted from iPhone

Hard to get mad at stupid sh** like that--it's too sad because it could of been avoided. Stay away! I've had to deal with these young teens and their photographers--luckily, I was shoving into a turnout ahead of them; they were in no hurry to move.

Posted from Android

Go to the UP web site, look on the safety part, there is a picture taken by three young ladys there selfey contains the headlight from the train which is about to kill thems seconds later.  I can only think of what it must have been like to sit where the crew did and watch it.

What it shows is the absolute complete lack of common sense among a huge segment of this country's population.  As the saying goes, "The problem with common sense is that it's not common, anymore."  Unfortunately, our good-intentioned attempts to protect people from their own stupidity has only bred more stupid people.  Eventually, Darwinism will correct that error, with a lot of very painful and deadly results.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/17 11:16 by WW.

Well they don't actually go 50 mph thru downtown, but this is tragic. We saw the train stopped there and the emergency vehicles, hoped for a better outcome. I just can't imagine the thought process that puts people in front of approaching trains.

Nice article. "Student KILLED by train." "The VICTIM has been identified..." [emphasis mine]

Media has their heads up and stuck anyway. They would never tell it like it is: Dumbass killed by train.

danco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice article. "Student KILLED by train." "The
> VICTIM has been identified..."

Kids do these things so adults will have something else to bitch about. Its not like adults dont drink and drive, follow to close, or speed, lie, cheat or steal or tresspass while taking photos.  Kids do dumb things because adults do dumb thing.  Monkey see monkey do...  Its making me weary that every time a train hits somebody walking on the tracks or a car gets hit...Its time for the Darwin award or how stupid people are.  We all are in the same boat.
Roger Beckett

I suspect the kids saw a picture, and said " we can do that". No further thought about the risk.

Not much different than deciding you're OK to drive home after a few snorts. We all exercise bad judgement once in a while. It's not usually fatal to us and tragic for others.

Posted from Android

That poor train crew!  How awful for them!  And the kid's poor parents!
Losing a child is one of the worst things that can ever happen to anyone.

My solution: when people are caught on RR property taking pictures
of other people on RR property, the police would immwediately
confiscate all their photo equipment.  It would re returned:
= on first offense -- in 30 days
=on second offense -- in 90 days
=on third offense --  not until the kid turned 18, and, for 17-year-olds, in 365 days 

Same punishment for any trespassing on RR property,with our without 
using cell phones or listening to music using earbuds or headphones
while on RR property

NO exceptions!  THAT would force kids to stop trespassing on RR property!

I just wish with all my heart that there was some quick way to heal the
pain of the RR crews who cannot avoid hitting those kids.  Ditto the
parents of those kids, as no matter what they say or do, -- other than
confiscating their kid's cell phone and earbuds and headphones for the
same period of time as above -- their kids  will all too often refuse to obey
sensible rules.  And, anyways, no child or teen ever can really "get it" about
their own mortality..  And some adults don't "get it", eiother, but no kid ever
can.    This punbishment would teach kids to stop trespassing on RR property.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/17 12:28 by Margaret_SP_fan.

ReRead the article. It states that she was "with" a photographer, not that she had anything to do with photography per se.  Before jumping to conclusions, let's wait until the investigation is complete and all the facts are known.   It isn't unusual for first reports, compiled on a tight deadline, from fragmentary information,  to be modified later when more is known.

Exactly.

The story doesn't give nearly enough information to make any kind of judgemental statement like so many of the usual Einsteins here have done.

Plowhandle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Exactly.
>
> The story doesn't give nearly enough information
> to make any kind of judgemental statement like so
> many of the usual Einsteins here have done.

You do wonder if the  posters actually read the link or only the somewaht misleading subject line.

Bob

A few years ago I was at a local festival that draws a few thousand people.  A railroad runs along the edge of the area and there are quite a few people in the area crossing the railroad as they wander into the main area of the festival.  Trains are issued slow orders in the area during the festival.  When a train does come through, parents bring their small kids to see the train. 
 
As one train approached, there were three girls near, all in their teens.  One had a camera, one seemed to be the subject of the photos, and the other was just there to hold a reflector.   The engineer was blowing the horn with little short toots, enough to alert people but not blowing out everyone’s eardrums.   As the train was about 100 yards away, the three got on the track to get some pictures with the train approaching from behind the model.  I yelled at them to, “Get off the tracks” but they didn’t pay attention to the stupid old man yelling at them.   As the train got closer, maybe 50 yards away, the engineer laid on the horn and the “model” must have just about needed some clean underwear.  They all got out the way. 
 
Kids are invincible, or so they think.  There will probably be more of these in the next month or two with kids getting senior pictures.   I try to post something every year on Facebook about the problem and I mention the problem to the photographers I know.  If you want to take pictures on the tracks, go find a museum and get their permission.  Just stay off of the local railroad where the trains run every day.

John

Neither parents, guardians, schools, or peers teach ANYTHING about common sense anymore.  What's a young person to do?  Society has passed it's zenith and, on average, is heading for it's nadir, becoming "stupider and stupider"!  Now young people (and others) attempt stunts with deadly consequence just to get on you tube.  40 years in customer service for 'a large international airline' leads to my opinion.  In addition, a lot of what I learned about industrial safety (keep your head out of your #**) came from the U S Navy.  Bad thing about a smaller, volunteer force is that a large segment of the population misses out on this (smaller armed forces = good, no education for some = bad.  It also relates back to the NEW FREEDOM ("You can't tell ME what to do").  Glad I came thru here in mostly the Twentieth Century, the future is looking bleak.

Ed

Margaret_SP_fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That poor train crew!  How awful for them!  And
> the kid's poor parents!
> Losing a child is one of the worst things that can
> ever happen to anyone.
>
> My solution: when people are caught on RR property
> taking pictures
> of other people on RR property, the police would
> immwediately
> confiscate all their photo equipment.  It would
> re returned:
> = on first offense -- in 30 days
> =on second offense -- in 90 days
> =on third offense --  not until the kid turned
> 18, and, for 17-year-olds, in 365 days 

Does your same logic apply to people taking pictures of trains rather than "of other people"? What about people taking pictures of railroad employees? I guess I don't understand your reasoning....
 

NormSchultze Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ReRead the article. It states that she was "with"
> a photographer, not that she had anything to do
> with photography per se.  Before jumping to
> conclusions, let's wait until the investigation is
> complete and all the facts are known.   It isn't
> unusual for first reports, compiled on a tight
> deadline, from fragmentary information,  to be
> modified later when more is known.

Yes, I do know that in the rush to "get the scoop", facts do
get garbled or ignored.  All we know is that a young woman
did what no one should do -- made a stupid mistake around
large things that move -- and the laws of physics were, as 
always, in effect, and were merciless.  That poor woman....
and her family and friends.....  And that poor crew.....

And *if* it is true that that photographer was actually *on* RR
property, *or* had told *any* of the people he was photographing
to be on RR property for his photo shoot, then all of his photographic
equipment should be confiscated, and should not be returned for at
least 30 days.

in order to stop most people from being stupid around large things
that move -- in this case, trains -- there must be consequences that
will improve their behavior, and will force them to stop trespassing on
RR property.  IMO, taking away their cell phones for a minumum of
30 days would do this.  And, for photographers who either trespass
on RR property or tell others to, so would havin all their photo
equipment confiscated for at least 30 days.

Confiscating all of theier photo equipment for a mimimum of 30 days
wouls astop photographerrs from trespassing on RR property for
photo shoots, and from telling anyone to be on RR property io be
photograophed while on RR property -- unless the photographer 
had official written permission from the RR.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/17 15:14 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Auburn_Ed Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neither parents, guardians, schools, or peers
> teach ANYTHING about common sense anymore.
>  What's a young person to do?  Society has
> passed it's zenith and, on average, is heading for
> it's nadir, becoming "stupider and stupider"!
>  Now young people (and others) attempt stunts
> with deadly consequence just to get on you tube.
>  40 years in customer service for 'a large
> international airline' leads to my opinion.  In
> addition, a lot of what I learned about industrial
> safety (keep your head out of your #**) came from
> the U S Navy.  Bad thing about a smaller,
> volunteer force is that a large segment of the
> population misses out on this (smaller armed
> forces = good, no education for some = bad.  It
> also relates back to the NEW FREEDOM ("You can't
> tell ME what to do").  Glad I came thru here in
> mostly the Twentieth Century, the future is
> looking bleak.
>
> Ed

I agree wholeheartedly.  As to a comment above about the teens being with a photographer.  Now ,even with an adult potentially telling them what to do, the kid should have had enough common sense to know that standing on a live railroad track is stupid.  That said, if the photographer posed the teenager on the railroad track, then he/she should be charged with criminally negligent homicide and child abuse resulting in death.  My condolences to the train crew for having to be an unwilling part of this tragedy. This tragedy is no way their fault.  As to the teen's parents, yes, it's a tragedy for them, but they may have some culpability if they didn't try to pass on at least a bit of common sense to their offspring.

And that happened. Recall the film crew on CSX that tried to "steal a shot" and got a member of the crew killed?   And he is, as far as I know, in prison.

I believe the crime is something along the line of, "Failing to protect the welfare of a minor." Yes, it is a jailable offense. We will have to see how the county attorney deals with. Unless the parents were standing there and not taking offense they have a course of civil action against the photographer. They will probably try to sue the railroad first. Perhaps the photographer will sue the railroad as well.