Passenger Trains > Tenth Fatality of Year for Caltrain

The San Jose Mercury reports that Caltrain #426 hit and killed a pedestrian, an apparent suicide, just north of Mary Avenue in Sunnyvale late Sunday morning. That's the tenth Caltrain fatality in less than three months, equalling as many that occurred in all of 2014. I think the high number is just a coincidence more than anything else but it appears that 2015 may be "one of those years" (fatality wise) for Caltrain. My condolences to the engineer, train crew and first responders as well as friends and family of the deceased.

As a former Caltrain engineer who was the unwilling victim of this kind of insane carnage more times than I care to recall during my career I can only say once again that "I'm so glad to be retired!"

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_27809828/sunnyvale:-caltrain-strikes-kills-pedestrian



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/15 18:10 by johnw.

Every time I see one of these, especially where someone tries to be the train, I think about the Groucho Marx  show from the late 50's and early 60's.  "You Bet Your Life."  That was just a TV game show but too many people are playing the game for real.

John

johnw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The San Jose Mercury reports that Caltrain #426
> hit and killed a pedestrian, an apparent suicide,
> just north of Mary Avenue in Sunnyvale late Sunday
> morning. That's the tenth Caltrain fatality in
> less than three months, equalling as many that
> occurred in all of 2014. I think the high number
> is just a coincidence more than anything else but
> it appears that 2015 may be "one of those years"
> (fatality wise) for Caltrain. My condolences to
> the engineer, train crew and first responders as
> well as friends and family of the deceased.
>
> As a former Caltrain engineer who was the
> unwilling victim of this kind of insane carnage
> more times than I care to recall during my career
> I can only say once again that "I'm so glad to be
> retired!"
>
> http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_27809828/sunnyv
> ale:-caltrain-strikes-kills-pedestrian

I read the Mercury News article and it quoted an official as saying that 94 suicides on Caltain tracks have been prevented over the past 3 years. I am curious how that figure was arrived at.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 18:01 by DFWJIM.

DFWJIM Wrote:
-
> http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_27809828/sunnyv
>
> > ale:-caltrain-strikes-kills-pedestrian
>
> I read the Mercury News article and it quoted an
> official as saying that 94 suicides on Captain
> tracks have been prevented over the past 3 years.
> I am curious how that figure was arrived at.

That number is more than a bit suspicious! In fact it's ridiculous! That would mean that over 30 deaths would have been prevented per year and combined with the number of people who were actually killed by suicide or accident without these interventions Caltrain would have had a yearly body count of over 40 per year. In my 30 years in engine service we seemed to average about a dozen fatalities a year on Caltrain with only a couple of spiked years where we approached or hit the number 20. That was balanced with other years where we were well below the average of 12. 

I'm also curious as to how these suicides were prevented. Did people call the toll free number posted on signs along the right of way? I remember when the signs were put up and they didn't seem to effect the number of fatalities at all. Were some of these preventions because trains reported suspicious trespassers on the property or those persons were spotted and apprehended by law enforcement personnel? I haven't got a clue and do support every effort to prevent suicide but this number seems like self congratulatory BS to me! 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 09:29 by johnw.

Please note that any Coroner's office is reluctant to label death as "suicide" unless there is absolute proof. The reasons behind this are many: family members of the deceased become subject to increased scrutiny in job applications, security clearances, insurance and credit rating and many other factors.

A good friend had an uncle do that and it took YEARS for that incident to finally drop off the books, It impacted his mortgage, his job performance rating at work ("you MAY have a negative attitude so we're not taking any chances"), and eventually led to a nasty divorce because his wife's religion.

'Nuff said.

About the "prevented suicides"

NJ Transit has signs at all stations offering help for people considering suicide. There's also an active program to alert police in suspicious situations.

A few months ago, I was approached by an NJ Transit officer at a station which doesn't see service on weekends, but has a lot of trains pass by. He "was just passing by" and wanted to make sure I knew there were no trains stopping here.  He was very observant of my condition, etc.

I assured him that I was just taking pictures, and he was fine with that. We chatted a bit, and he was on his way.  I had a similar encounter with a local officer at Point Pleasant Beach who noticed me at the end of the bridge.

Either officer could have been dispatched on a possible suicide attempt, check it out call