Who Still Gambles with Trains? Seeing as how TRAINS usually win!

**Zacha341** · February-28-16, 10:47 AM

Incredibly sad. The six PM run of that Amtrak hauls off Nine Mile in Ferndale, I've seen that one often. Those trains are super fast and cannot stop! Yet some still gamble to try to outrun or outdrive them. Despite gates down - red lights flashing, and train horn blaring!

Latest tragedy just occurred in Royal Oak, man killed -- Saturday 12:50 AM:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...-oak/81035102/

**michmina** · February-28-16, 11:00 AM

There is no place important enough for me to be where I'd go around a gates that are down. Those trains are FAST.

**Zacha341** · February-28-16, 11:28 AM

And the gates go down and back up fast. And the angles make it look like they are moving slower than they are and trains can not steer away from an object in front of them. What a tragedy for this mans family. Stressful for the train engineer, conductors and other train staff on board.

**313WX** · February-28-16, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Who Still Gambles With Trains?

Stupid people.

Definitely a good candidate for a Darwin Award.

**401don** · February-28-16, 12:07 PM

At least there were no passengers in the car. Remember the incident in Canton about 5 yrs. ago when there were, I think, 5 killed. Those people were at the mercy of an idiot driver.

**Zacha341** · February-28-16, 12:25 PM

He walked out in front of the train or was too close as it went by. No car involved in this case per the article.

Yeah, that Canton situation was horrid preventable. All teens. Crammed into a car, playing chicken against an Amtrak, or shall I say the driver was.

With the other four souls as captive audience unto death.

**Johnnny5** · February-28-16, 12:25 PM

Very sad.

Given the time of night and location there's a good chance this man was intoxicated. As mentioned above the angle of the tracks and the size of a train can make their speed deceiving. Add the effects of a few too many drinks and that's how accidents like this can happen.

**Zacha341** · February-28-16, 12:32 PM

Yeah, I knew of kids in jr. high school that would go up on the Detroit tracks and jump on and off the slower moving freight trains and they always said they were moving faster than they looked. Thankfully none of them were injured.

**canuck** · February-28-16, 01:55 PM

One awful story in that genre happened last winter in Montreal when a young barmaid walked along tracks and got her legs severed by a train. She was on her way home after closing time and it took hours before she was found. She also lost fingers on both hands from frostbite. N-e-v-e-r walk on train tracks.

**Dumpling** · February-28-16, 04:48 PM

A nicer story is as follows:

A friend of mine was driving along Schaefer Road, along with a good number of other
cars, going past a Rouge plant gate, when everyone heard a train horn sound!

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3033...7i13312!8i6656

and everyone locked 'em up, and stopped short at this Schaefer Road railroad tracks,
and then everyone looked around for the train, and there it was, off to one side, crossing
the Rouge plant driveway road.

**Zacha341** · February-28-16, 06:37 PM

Thinking about this more, I'm wondering if he was perhaps standing too close to the tracks? A distance away from the gated part of the road intersection? Rather than crossing to beat the train. The articles are not clear on that. I've stood back very far the few times on foot in RO. It was really scary to see how fast the train came and went!

**Dumpling** · February-28-16, 06:44 PM

He could have been sleepwalking too given the time of occurrence - probably
should have been in bed several hours before the incident. Young people try
to pack more living into a day than they should sometimes. A toxicology report
will show if drinking or drugs were factors in this incident. Where's Superman
when you need him?

**SDCC** · February-28-16, 07:32 PM

Unfortunately, this type of accident happens more often than not. In San Diego there is a stretch of Amtrak that runs parallel to one the trolley lines and people have stepped right in front of an oncoming train. Bicyclists have been hit and killed as well; the overwhelming reason is inattentiveness and distraction, ear buds in, music on and not a care in the world – watch those yellow lines.

**mikeg19** · February-29-16, 07:26 AM

There's no mention in the article if the man was in a car or walking. It sounds like he was walking.

I'm truly surprised that more people aren't killed in RO by a train. There are a few thousand people out drinking on the weekends there and people are constantly crossing those tracks intoxicated to go back and forth to bars. Maybe pedestrian overhead crossings or tunnels would be a solid investment?

**Gianni** · March-01-16, 03:20 PM

Also could have been a suicide.

**black gold man** · March-01-16, 05:53 PM

Things are diffident in some places.

**Honky Tonk** · March-01-16, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by black gold man

Things are diffident in some places.

Is that Midtown's Blight Rail after a hockey game?

**belleislerunner** · March-02-16, 09:49 AM

The media reported the other day that it was a Florida resident helping a friend of his move to Royal Oak for a new job. If you look up the guys name on Facebook to see his pictures/profile - outwardly looks like a nice guy. Sad situation all the way around as he was probably trailing his friends to get to 526 Main and was trying to run drunk/catch up - unaware of how fast the train was moving.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...mtrak_tra.html

**Zacha341** · March-02-16, 10:48 AM

Here's a recent example of someone driving who thought they could beat a train. Note how little damage is shown on front engine of train. Car completely demolished:

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/in...loses_e_m.html

**Dumpling** · March-04-16, 06:11 PM

There was a thread on DetroitYes several years back about teen suicide and
the statistic at that time that about one in ten teens has a suicide plan.

So yes, there is about a one in ten chance that this was indeed a suicide.

The National Suicide Hotline is: 1-800-273-8255. I haven't tried calling myself
but I understand that the operators are thoroughly trained and also motivated for
this specific calling, whereas your close friends and family members are usually
not. Their listed community resources for the Detroit area seem too few and
far between for the probable 300,000 or so metro Detroiters that think about
suicide at least occasionally. As a group, we do want you suicidal ones to stick
around, REALLY, though we may not say it with enough proper facilities.

**bibs** · March-04-16, 09:21 PM

If the Amtrak train just left the Royal Oak station then it probably wasn't going very fast. Perhaps, he thought he could beat it.
One day, I watched a freight train roll through during the day at the same location. It was probably going about 45 to 50 mph. I noticed a few interesting things. The angle of the tracks and the buildings create a distortion or illusion. The buildings muffled or cancelled out the sound quit a bit and they also made the train look like it wasn't moving very fast. That was during the day! What's that distortion like at night?

**cassique** · March-05-16, 11:39 AM

My mother was on the Amtrak train from Chicago to Detroit yesterday when it hit a car. Apparently the woman piloted her SUV past several waiting cars and went around gates in order to get hit and die. Train was supposed to get in at 7:30 but did not get in until midnight or so. Tragic but more so for the engineer and others who had to witness that kind of stupidity.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/break...ounty/38344880

Gambling with a train is a sure way to an early grave.....