Blood on the Tracks
November 19, 2004 5:30 AM   Subscribe

Daily commute getting you down? Thinking of ending it all? Just step out in front of a train and it'll all be over in a moment. Or maybe not.
posted by biffa (81 comments total)
 
10 points to anyone that can tell me what font that brand is in. I've seen it before but forgot to bookmark it.
posted by omidius at 5:49 AM on November 19, 2004


This is appropriate for a Friday. From my experience, Friday afternoon is the favoured time for the, "Someone under a train," announcement on the underground.
posted by veedubya at 5:52 AM on November 19, 2004


Or maybe not.

or, how about, definitely not.

just two weeks ago the driver of a train and six passengers were killed outside of london when in an apparent suicide a man parked his car on the tracks at a level crossing. more than a dozen other passengers people were injured when the train, moving at 100 mph slammed into the vehicle.

if your life sucks so bad you want to end it at least have the decency of not inflicting your misery on anyone else.
posted by three blind mice at 5:55 AM on November 19, 2004


We never hear anything so specific here--it's usually "police activity" which could mean anything from actual criminal stuff, a fallen person, a suicide, a heart attack, or even a technical/mechanical thing.
posted by amberglow at 6:00 AM on November 19, 2004


I'm getting sidebar ads with this post such as "Believe in Jesus? We'll pay you $75 right now to complete a simple survey!" and "God and Homosexuality" . I guess there's supposed to be some sort of tie in to suicide there.
posted by troutfishing at 6:01 AM on November 19, 2004


When I first came to London I was shocked when I heard someone complaining about "being late" because of a body under the train. "Spare a thought for the person who just died you heartless sod" I thought. Cut to 3 months later and the next time it happens and I'm thinking, "Well, if I change at Euston then I can get bus to Holborn..."

Overground trains are the way to go.

The adverts for Jesus are probably tied into the mentions of the Underground. Transport for London will do that to you.
posted by john-paul at 6:06 AM on November 19, 2004


three blind mice, I don't think there was any conclusive evidence that the car driver was committing suicide. According to a close friend of his, he had recenty chosen to miss a night out because he was saving a deposit to buy a house. More importantly, the car driver also had a reputation for running out of petrol (or gas as the Americans would have it).

Over here, in the UK, there was some advantage to it being spun as a suicide, because it served as a distraction from the fact that these unmanned rail crossings are inherently dangerous. The government doesn't want to replace the crossings with bridges or tunnels, because of the expense. I'm not saying this was deliberate government spin, but it certainly worked in their favour.
posted by veedubya at 6:09 AM on November 19, 2004


Troutfishing, the sidebar ad I'm seeing is "Nobody reading your blog?" Which is, uh, not exactly a reason to commit suicide. For most people, anyway.
posted by litlnemo at 6:09 AM on November 19, 2004


I'm thinking that in NYC we don't get anywhere near one a week. I'm basing this on the fact that when someone DOES jump in front of a subway or get pushed, the tabloids are screaming about it immediately and you see it on the evening news. It's hard to miss. What's going on over there in London that people are offing themselves so frequently? I mean, come on, you only have to wait out four years of Bush...how hard can that be? Show some sack.
posted by spicynuts at 6:23 AM on November 19, 2004


if your life sucks so bad you want to end it at least have the decency of not inflicting your misery on anyone else.

That sentence doesn't parse. "At least"? Mefi doesn't do suicide well. Let's all tread lightly, eh?
posted by jpoulos at 6:23 AM on November 19, 2004


But we do grammar nitpicking well!
posted by crunchburger at 6:28 AM on November 19, 2004


passengers people

sorry, i'm new at this.

the actions of that selfish bastard brian drysdale make me so mad i still can't think straight....

there are lots of ways to off yourself:

virgina woolf drowned herself by placing rocks in her pockets and wading into the river.

socrates drank hemlock.

romeo stabbed himself.

lillian millicent entwistle jumped off the hollywood sign.

elaine may directed ishtar....

you want to go. good riddance. just have a little decency and don't hurt anyone with your selfish dramatics.
posted by three blind mice at 6:34 AM on November 19, 2004


jpoulos - I was about to say something flip about suicide methods. Then I thought "Well, 1) somebody out there has suffered through the suicide of a loved one" and 2) someone else probably will actually give it a try."

The weight of many eyeballs presses in.

litlnemo - I wonder how sidebar ads are tailored in that way. I bet there's an askmetafilter question on it.

john-paul - maybe you're right. That wouldn't have occurred to me.
posted by troutfishing at 6:35 AM on November 19, 2004


We never hear anything so specific here--it's usually "police activity"

We don't even get that, it's usually just "riders can expect a slight delay on the red line" but if you know DC, it doesn't take long for the truth to leak and spread like a case of herpes in a sorority house!
posted by Pollomacho at 6:38 AM on November 19, 2004


In Tokyo the station "tones" are upbeat so as to discourage suicide. It doesn't work, but it is a nice touch. They are very efficient in cleaning up the mess and kindly send the bill for the clean up/delay to your family.
posted by shoepal at 6:39 AM on November 19, 2004


if your life sucks so bad you want to end it at least have the decency of not inflicting your misery on anyone else.

That sentence doesn't parse. "At least"? Mefi doesn't do suicide well. Let's all tread lightly, eh?

sorry jpoulos, my comma jumped in front of an oncoming conjunction last week. i'm still trying to live with the loss.
posted by three blind mice at 6:45 AM on November 19, 2004


Somebody please explain me WHY don't they put some barrier (some kind of door, something that opens only when the train is stopped)...why nobody (apparently, at least in all the undergrounds I used) tought about that in the last..50 years or more ?

It's like leaving the airplane cockpit without a solid door for anybody to enter and wreak havoc with the plane...it's so friggin obvious, just put some damn closed door. No Phd required, no previous experience...damn a McDonald burger flipper is a doctor magna cum laude these days.
posted by elpapacito at 6:47 AM on November 19, 2004


I know that in Toronto the press has an agreeement to not report subway suicides. Murder's a different story, but that doesn't happen often. The delay announcements make it pretty obvious when there's a suicide somewhere, though; "emergency at track level" or something like that.
posted by transient at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2004


Horrifying. Why park your car there? Standing there at least wouldn't have the potential to hurt anyone else. So dramatic.

I wish there was MORE news about this, bizarrely. I find these types of suicides fascinating from a distant standpoint.
posted by agregoli at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2004


elpacito, in London, the extension to the Jubilee Line does have doors on the platforms that only open when a train has stopped in the station. I should imagine, though, that retro-fitting all of the old stations with them would be prohibitively expensive.

I guess it's Fight Club economics: we can spend x amount to save y lives, or we can do nothing and spend z, as and when necessary.
posted by veedubya at 6:52 AM on November 19, 2004


Some stations on the jube have those walls/doors. It is likely a matter of expense and technology. It is probably cheaper to suffer the cost of delays and post-traumatic stress disorder in drivers than to retro install glass walls/doors. Perhaps they could do a study to determine stations most likely to have suicides (near financial districts?) and glass them in.

on preview: what veedubya said re: fight club
posted by shoepal at 6:54 AM on November 19, 2004


"Shallow people don't often commit suicide and are infuriatingly healthy, so they often live long enough to become fearful of death and meaninglessness themselves, and sometimes thereby acquire a patina of depth."
________________________

elpapacito - cost benefit analysis ( although I can visualize a somewhat practical solution ). But if you took away the subway option, more people would leap in front of buses and trucks.


Somehow, I don't think that "attempted suicide by subway train" was what this researcher was thinking of :

"The Economics of Suicide, Revisited.......Only a small fraction of suicide attempts are fatal. Nonfatal attempts might elicit resources and care from others, enhancing economic prospects for those who survive.....Survey show that ex post, individuals who made a suicide attempt had higher incomes than peers who seriously considered suicide but who never made a suicide attempt. Moreover, those who reported making the most serious attempts experienced the largest subsequent effects on income." ( see also : "Why trying to kill yourself may be a smart business decision.", via Slate )

Somehow, getting only partially smeared by a train and surviving doesn't sound like an attractive business model to me. . .

Just my own humble little opinion.
posted by troutfishing at 6:54 AM on November 19, 2004


whoa... Veedubya that was weird. We were typing the same damn thing at the same time. Of all the subways in the world...
posted by shoepal at 6:56 AM on November 19, 2004


I got to see the aftermath of a guy jumping in front of an express train, about a year and a half ago. This was a commuter line from a Yokohama suburb to Tokyo, above ground. The train was coming through the station at about 60 mph, most of the guy landed out of my visual range, but there were large chunks of him on the tracks in front of me. Looked like he got hit with the rocket launcher in Quake.
The driver and station crew freaked out a bit, I saw one of them racing to be sick, while a bunch of others covered the largest piece of the guy's remains. All the images have stayed with me, with a remarkable clarity. I remember thinking he picked an expensive line to do it on - I think his family will be out about 10 grand.

But the absolute worst part of it was the crows.
posted by bashos_frog at 6:56 AM on November 19, 2004


...you had to jump in front of mine?
posted by veedubya at 6:57 AM on November 19, 2004


Odd that this shows up today. A friend of mine who drives a train for a living just hit and non-fatally maimed somebody two days ago.

It's a ghastly thing to do to the train operators, turning them into unwilling executioners.
posted by mosch at 6:58 AM on November 19, 2004


elpapacito: They have platform screen doors on the Jubilee Line Extension. Supposedly they cost £1 million per face, which is probably why they aren't more widespread.
posted by grouse at 6:59 AM on November 19, 2004


three blind mice, socrates was a case of death penalty, not suicide!

spicynuts, do the tabs really go crazy for a train jumper? I had assumed it happened not infrequently, myself. Maybe tabloids cover episodes they find interesting for one reason or another, the way they get excited over certain murders, but certainly not all.

Yeah, in new york they use very bland language to neutralize any event - like amberglow said, "police activity." It seems so much more local and intimate to announce what actually happened - I can't imagine the MTA letting us in on such details.
posted by mdn at 7:10 AM on November 19, 2004


Oh my god I didn't need to hear that crow thing.
posted by agregoli at 7:12 AM on November 19, 2004


But we do grammar nitpicking well!

"Parse" was the wrong word. I wasn't nitpicking the grammar. "At least" just doesn't seem to logically flow from "your life sucks so bad". Unless "your life sucks so bad" is being use ironically. Which is cold.

Regardless, I agree with the point that, as bad an option as suicide is, taking innocent people with you is even worse.
posted by jpoulos at 7:13 AM on November 19, 2004


Why did this happen?" she demanded. My colleague told her that the victim had been very depressed. She replied, "Well, who wouldn't be, with that escalator out again."

Gotta love that deadpan British humor.

I've put some thought into the idea of the best suicide (relax I'm not in the slightest bit suicidal, just very imaginative.) The most painless way to go vs. the messy body situation. Slitting your wrists in the baathtub while drunk seems the most pleasant way, except your loved ones have to find you and the paramedics have to fish you out, etc. What I'm really looking for is some amazing E-Vap-O-Rate vanishing cream. But failing that, a weighted plunge into the deep ocean from a boat is the next best thing.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:13 AM on November 19, 2004


Talking about the recent derailment - I can't believe that it wasn't suicide, to be honest.

The crossing was a half barrier that leaves at least 30 seconds between coming down and the train passing through. The car was already on the lines when the barriers came down. Witnesses stated that he stated that he wanted to die.

What I don't understand is why trains don't have cow catchers on the front of them. If you put them only just above the rail level, things like that car would be flicked off the track. The train would still shudder, but it wouldn't be thrown from the rails like that.
posted by twine42 at 7:17 AM on November 19, 2004


Ever hear the one about the New York woman a few years back? Wanted to kill herself, wandered on to the tracks. Got hit by a train, but didn't die - she lost her legs. Sued the city, won millions.

I always wonder what juries are thinking in cases like that: Guys, if she wins, it's your tax dollars that will pay for it.
posted by fungible at 7:28 AM on November 19, 2004


three blind mice, socrates was a case of death penalty, not suicide!

Well actually, since he had a chance to flee Athens before the execution but decided to stay to show how he was willing to give his life for his ideals, I think you can call it a dual death penalty/suicide.
posted by sic at 7:29 AM on November 19, 2004


I've thought about creative suicide methods...so far, the best I've been able to come up with is dressing in a pink tutu (I'm male) and going into a biker bar to insult a bunch of Hell's Angels.
posted by alumshubby at 7:29 AM on November 19, 2004


On October 17th or 18th here (nyc), some poor guy got hit by my apartment as he was searching for his hearing aid. It wasn't a suicide, of course. I can't imagine, though, watching a person hop onto the subway tracks an not saying anything to prevent him, or alerting someone. (In the case of suicide, naturally there isn't time.)

In any event, a guy in my building was at the station at the time, and attempted to get the guy's attention. Well, the guy was looking for his hearing aid because he was deaf, so that didn't work. The guy tried to lift him off the tracks, but by that time the train had already smashed into the deaf man, and carried him some distance.

The story ends on a somewhat nice note. The guy from my building set up a fund for the man, a poor immigrant sending money to home. Sorry for the link to a student newspaper, but here it is.

And that's my subway horror story.
posted by NoamChomskyStoleMyFace at 7:29 AM on November 19, 2004


I've been a rider on the NYC subway and NJ Transit for 6 years, and have made acquaintance with some of the familiar conductors and engineers. Apparently when the train engineers are learning their routes, the old veterans tell them: “It is not IF you will hit somebody. It is WHEN.” Which basically means that they inevitably will hit someone on the tracks during their career, but the guaranteed variable is “when” this becomes reality.

I was unfortunately a witness of a train suicide a few years ago, and the mental image is still disturbing and incongruent. I learned that day that, apparently, the force of the train is so great, that the victim's clothes are completely ripped from the body, and the victim is left naked, bloated like 5x their normal size, and completely bruised from head to toe…
posted by naxosaxur at 7:36 AM on November 19, 2004


I know that in Toronto the press has an agreeement to not report subway suicides.

I'm wondering if Dallas is the same way. There was some kind of incident at Union Station on Wednesday, cops and ambulances and helicopters all about, and a thirty-forty minute train delay. Yet, I can't find anything about it in the local news.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:37 AM on November 19, 2004


The (although short) subway line in Copenhagen has glass doors on the platforms. It also doesn't have a driver.

I don't know how the problem is handled, but if you have doors, don't you need to park the train perfectly so that the platform doors line up with the car doors? Maybe this is simpler to do than it sounds, never having driven a subway myself.
posted by defcom1 at 7:42 AM on November 19, 2004


But failing that, a weighted plunge into the deep ocean from a boat is the next best thing.

Actually, The Perfect Storm (the book, not the movie, as far as I know) had a description of the physical process of drowning that has stuck with me for the five years since I read it. Of course, it is fairly quick, but it sounds like a pretty unpleasant minute or two before you pass out.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:53 AM on November 19, 2004


three blind mice, socrates was a case of death penalty, not suicide!

well the point was he didn't hurt anyone by killing himself (whatever his reason) and neither should anyone else contemplating their own demise.

as a long time listener, first time caller, i am getting the feeling that posting comments on mefi is uncomfortably close to standing on the rails myself.

*gets smeared by the mefi express and lives to regret it*
posted by three blind mice at 8:08 AM on November 19, 2004


jpoulos: Here's the sentence with a comma: "If your life sucks so bad you want to end it, at least have the decency of not inflicting your misery on anyone else."

Does that help?
posted by knave at 8:28 AM on November 19, 2004


The old running car in the garage has to be the easiest. Just gently fall asleep. ZZZZZzzzzz___________
posted by zeoslap at 8:30 AM on November 19, 2004


I was once fortunate enough to be in the right place/time to grab a potential jumper prior to the train entering the station. I never got her name, or a word of thanks (not that I was expecting one) but the subsequent treatment I was given by both the police and transit authorities made it all the more worthwhile.

These are people doing jobs that, like most, have unfortunate aspects. Some people handle it differently (as in most things in life) and I doubt one article could capture the myriad of feelings and/or experiences involved.
posted by purephase at 8:46 AM on November 19, 2004


[offtopic] Socrates provoked the whole thing. The vote to convict was close, then they asked him to propose a penalty. He said they should give him priviliges at the Olympic honors cafateria thing. in Athens as the penalty. This, in my view, provoked the jury into applying the death sentence. The whole thing is an example of so-called 'Socratic irony': he got them to sentence a very old man to...death.
posted by crunchburger at 8:53 AM on November 19, 2004


Well actually, since he had a chance to flee Athens before the execution but decided to stay to show how he was willing to give his life for his ideals, I think you can call it a dual death penalty/suicide.

well, then all soldiers are suicides too... preferring to die rather than contradict his ideals doesn't seem to me to be suicide - it's not a dylan thomas approach, but you can't call it a virginia woolf approach either.

On October 17th or 18th here (nyc), some poor guy got hit by my apartment as he was searching for his hearing aid.

this is a great opening line for a surrealist novel.
posted by mdn at 8:58 AM on November 19, 2004


I've thought about creative suicide methods...so far, the best I've been able to come up with is dressing in a pink tutu (I'm male) and going into a biker bar to insult a bunch of Hell's Angels.
Alumshubby, that is stereotypical, but would it be suicidal? Perhaps or perhaps not, it could turnout to be just very painful.
posted by bratcat at 9:01 AM on November 19, 2004


crunchburger, after some fanciful musings, he did ask the jury to fine him 30 mina, which his students guaranteed.
posted by mdn at 9:06 AM on November 19, 2004


I had a high school teacher who told us after one of our students killed himself, "Guys, if you're gonna kill yourself, please, do it on a Thursday. That way, we get the three day weekend."
posted by fungible at 9:14 AM on November 19, 2004


"some poor guy got hit by my apartment"
I totally read that wrong and smiled at the thought of an apartment fighting back. /luka derail
posted by shoepal at 9:15 AM on November 19, 2004


On October 17th or 18th here (nyc), some poor guy got hit by my apartment as he was searching for his hearing aid.

Just how fast was your apartment moving at the time?
posted by Bonzai at 9:15 AM on November 19, 2004


I don't know how the problem is handled, but if you have doors, don't you need to park the train perfectly so that the platform doors line up with the car doors? Maybe this is simpler to do than it sounds, never having driven a subway myself.

Several times I've waited while a Jubilee line driver has had to shift the train back and forward to line it up properly with the doors. Sometimes they don't bother shifting it when they're only a few inches out. I've never seen one miss the doors completely, but I don't use the Jubilee that often.
posted by corvine at 9:16 AM on November 19, 2004


Most interesting idea for suicide that I've ever heard (by a recovering heroin addict no less) was the following:

A length of rope, and a shorter length of piano wire. Tie one of the rope to your legs, and the other end to a tall bridge support (preferably over water). Tie the piano wire around your neck, and the loose end to the same spot on the bridge support.

Now, find some way to adhere your hands to your face/head without obstructing the wire (hey, I didn't make it up, I'm just passing it along as memory serves).

When you jump off, the shorter piano wire should sever your head (work with me here) while the rope should hang you upside down. If your hands are still attached to your face/head you should be left suspended upside down holding your head at arms length from your body.

Somehow, I think that would make the papers.
posted by purephase at 9:18 AM on November 19, 2004


I don't know how often Chicagoans jump in front of trains, but we have had some spectacular train disasters in El history.

We are being delayed, because crews are working on the track ahead. We expect to be moving shortly.
posted by jennyb at 9:22 AM on November 19, 2004


troutfishing: yeah I tought about cost benefit analysis..probably they did extimate costs for lost time, disruption of service and other associated cost and found out that (given historical frequencies of tube-suicides) it wasn't a good investment.....probably the ROI was close to zero.

..."after all if the guy wants to jump, who are we to stop him ?" they may have tought. Interestingly, I guess, nobody tought about overcrowding situation and the possibility that somebody may be , even if accidentally, pushed onto the rails. Victim's family may as well sue the hell out of the traffic authority for letting a platform become dangerously overcrowded.

Guess they have to review their cost-benefit,at least in London as I guess that, with a rate of 150 suicides a year, somebody may try the equivalent of some class action suit.

veedubya & grouse: Fight Club economics :) nice definition for personality disorder economics :) . Now I'm no tube engineer, but for some reasons £1million per face sounds a little too expensive ? It's hard to tell from the photo, but they seems to be plexiglass or somekindofglass structures with some mechanisms opening and closing door..probably fireproof and whatnot...but not rocket science.
posted by elpapacito at 9:24 AM on November 19, 2004


The Toronto press tended not to report on the Bloor Viaduct suicides either, unless it was a particularly noteworthy case, like IIRC the Maple Leaf abuse victim.

Same thing with subway cases. There was that one mother who had been repeatedly escorted off the platform before finally jumping with her child.
posted by maledictory at 9:56 AM on November 19, 2004


There is a great episode of Homicide based (allegedly) on a true incident here in NYC regarding a guy who was sideswiped by an oncoming subway car, and ultimately sandwiched between the train and platform edge. He survived, fully aware due to shock, knowing that he'd die as soon as they pry the train away from him. Ugh.

Most interesting idea for suicide that I've ever heard (by a recovering heroin addict no less)

Man, the batches of newbies get weirder and weirder... ;)
posted by mkultra at 10:01 AM on November 19, 2004


mkultra, related to that Homicide episode, there was an episode of the first season of Taxicab Confessions on HBO where a NYPD transit cop told that story, from an actual witness standpoint, as the guy who was actually talking to the victim while they went to get his wife so they could have one last moment together before then lifted the train off him. The details he described were pretty damned convincing.

That's one I'll remember all my life.
posted by zoogleplex at 10:28 AM on November 19, 2004


It really was not that weird of situation. I met him at a really boring party one night, and he was probably the most interesting person there. Through normal conversation we got on the subject of suicide and he just blurted this out.

I'm not sure why, but it stuck with me ever since. You have to admit, it is a pretty interesting way to kill yourself.

As for the newb comment, although not a member, I've been reading (and donating) to the site for over 2 years. I just kept missing the registration windows. ;)
posted by purephase at 10:29 AM on November 19, 2004


Would you believe that people actually try to claim under the customer charter for delayed journeys when their travel has been interupted by a 'one under'. I can't understand these thoughtless people.

The Northern Line is notoriously bad for suicides due to the location of many 'mental homes' in that area.

You might be interested to know that London Underground has only just introduced a counselling service for customers who have been witness to an accident/suicide of this nature. It's not advertised but believe it's a service that is definitely needed (which admittedly it does not need to provide).
posted by floanna at 10:30 AM on November 19, 2004


maledictory: Yeah, that case was where I first read about the rule to not report suicides. They covered that one because of the murder aspect.
posted by transient at 10:42 AM on November 19, 2004


" in Toronto the press has an agreeement to not report subway suicides"

.. that's true in Vancouver (SkyTrain) as well. When there was no moratorium on reporting, you could count on a copycat suicide within days of the news being released. There are 10-20 jumpers every year. The maintenance crew then has to go in with power washers and toothbrushes to clean all the gore and fleshbits out of the contact plates and railbed. It's hazmat suits and puking for all. No one feels bad for the jumper.. for any reason..at that point.

Suicide, unless you slip off the back of an ocean-going vessel in the night, is just another mess you leave for others to clean up.

I work ED's; depressed drama suicide gestures are frequent, mostly very noncreative and superficial. .. and sad, very very sad.
posted by reflecked at 11:08 AM on November 19, 2004


Perfect for a Friday.

"Drivers who witness a suicide are at least entitled to money from a compensation fund and a couple of months off, which is an improvement on the old days, when they used to get three days standing spare while they waited to find out if they would be charged with manslaughter."

posted by tank04 at 11:56 AM on November 19, 2004


purephase, congrats for stopping a jumper! isn't anyone else here impressed?

out of curiousity, if you grabbed her early, how did you know she was about to jump? if you grabbed her late, how did you manage to get her back on the platform?

as for that "creative" suicide: .
posted by equipoise at 12:22 PM on November 19, 2004


I'm way impressed, but i bet the jumper just offed herself elsewhere. If you really want to go, you'll find a way.
posted by amberglow at 12:41 PM on November 19, 2004


This is completely unnecessary, but...
Instead of running the piano wire all the way to the bridge point, I think it would work just as well to tie it to the rope a few feet above your feet and jump standing up. Once you hit the bottom, your upper torso would swing forward, and the wire wouldn't. Saves you some piano wire, and I think it's a neater solution as well. I made a picture if anyone's confused. Yes, I'm quite bored.

My favorite hypothetical suicide fantasy is jumping off a building over a crowd with explosives strapped to your body (which would be detonated in mid-air). That's assuming, of course, that your goal is to emotionally scar the greatest number of people possible.

Note: I'm not endorsing suicide or emotional scarring of bystanders. I've just got a wierd imagination.

You can count me impressed. I have nowhere near the guts or reaction time for something like that.
posted by nTeleKy at 12:50 PM on November 19, 2004


Back in high school, I was having a conversation with some friends about how we'd off ourselves if we found out we had brain cancer or something like that. One guy said he'd like to get one of those powerboats that do like 200 miles an hour and run it off Niagara Falls, ideally landing on the Maid of the Mist. I hadto agree that would be pretty bitchin'.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:59 PM on November 19, 2004


I find the whole copycat suicide idea puzzling. A friend who worked for the Coast Guard said they are called out several times per month to deal with jumpers, both potential and after the fact, from our city's Mississippi River bridge. This is never reported by local media.

But if I were downtown looking for a good jumping-off point, that bridge is the first thing I'd consider. And it's not like people can really "pick up tips" from the media on deadlier ways to jump off a bridge. Aside from any extraneous piano wire modifications (you people are, um... creative!) you need only rely on gravity to do its thing.

Coincidentally, it looks like tomorrow is National Survivors of Suicide Day.
posted by naomi at 1:18 PM on November 19, 2004


I'm way impressed, but i bet the jumper just offed herself elsewhere. If you really want to go, you'll find a way.

this piece linked from metafilter some time ago on the golden gate bridge suicides, appears to say the opposite - that if you catch them (before they jump), most people don't return to try again.

Incidentally I would just like to say that I just joined metafilter yesterday, after lurking for many years, and thats my article that has been linked to.
posted by criticalbill at 1:40 PM on November 19, 2004


criticalbill, I saw a show on Discovery or something about people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge to kill themselves. Almost everyone is killed by the fall, but not everyone. They interviewed one of the survivors, who said, (my paraphrase):

"As soon as I let go, I realized that I didn't want to die anymore, I wanted to live, and I wanted to live more than anything else I've ever wanted in my life. And as I was falling I knew I'd just made the biggest mistake of my life."

Note that it takes something like 5 seconds to fall from the Golden Gate deck to the water below. That's a mighty, mighty long time to regret stepping off the bridge, ya think?

Not a way I'd choose to off myself, If I was serious. I'd go pharmacological.
posted by zoogleplex at 2:53 PM on November 19, 2004


if you grabbed her early, how did you know she was about to jump?

I (and my friends who were with me at the time) am still not sure how I knew, but I guess you had to be there. In Toronto, the subway platform is a little bit longer than an average train length (as, I suspect, most subway platforms are) and I normally wait near the ends since there is a better chance of available seating (I spend a lot of time on the subway). She was very close to the edge of the platform and leaning up against the wall where the subway would come in to the station at it's highest speed, and there was something clearly wrong with her.

I could hear the train coming and I saw her stand-up and sort of peek around the corner in the direction of the oncoming train, and I just ran over and grabbed her. I'm not 100% sure she was going to do it that time, but the way she was acting afterwards convinced me otherwise. She wasn't angry, and she didn't even really react to me pulling away from the edge. I just blocked her from getting near the track while a friend of mine notified one of the subway operators.

When the transit police arrived, she was still not talking, or even acknowledging that all the fuss was about her, she just seemed so detached from everything.

So, yeah, it was an assumption, and it's possible that she would not have jumped that time, but it sure looked like that was her intention.

but i bet the jumper just offed herself elsewhere. If you really want to go, you'll find a way.

Unfortunately, this is probably true. My only hope is that she got the help she needed. She couldn't have been more than 30 years old and the way she acted afterwards still creeps me out to this day.
posted by purephase at 3:13 PM on November 19, 2004


I've heard H is the way to go. OD off into dreamland and never, ever come back.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:25 PM on November 19, 2004


I work for the San Francisco Bay Area's subway system (BART) and we average about 1 suicide a month. Most are effective but it is possible to survive. Smallish folks who lie flat between the rails before the train arrives can be passed-over with little or no damage. That has happened on several occasions (not that I'm recommending that anyone try this on a lark as there is that pesky third rail to consider). There is also a niche under the platform lip into which people who've fallen by accident (or who change their minds) can roll. We also have a number of people each month who accidently fall off the platform. They typically end up with a broken limb or two. Our local media do report on suicides but not generally as big news unless it causes a major system tie-up during commute hours.
posted by agatha_magatha at 5:09 PM on November 19, 2004


crunchburger, after some fanciful musings, he did ask the jury to fine him 30 mina, which his students guaranteed.

Was 30 mina a lot of money?
posted by crunchburger at 5:29 PM on November 19, 2004


I work for the San Francisco Bay Area's subway system (BART) and we average about 1 suicide a month.

I was doing some engineering work in the BART tunnels one night, and the BART safety inspector would point out to me all the places on the tracks where people had died. Creepy when done at 3:30 am in a quiet tunnel.
posted by laz-e-boy at 7:21 PM on November 19, 2004


Was 30 mina a lot of money?

a mina = 100 drachma, and a drachma was an average wage for a day's work.
posted by mdn at 8:09 PM on November 19, 2004


You know, I've never heard of any suicides on the T. Maybe I'm not reading the right papers or something, or maybe the press in Boston just doesn't report it. I rode the red line every day last summer and never heard about anyone committing suicide by train.

(Or maybe the T just doesn't move fast enough to make this effective?)
posted by Hactar at 3:49 AM on November 20, 2004


This is the bit that always got me (from the New Yorker article)

On the bridge, Baldwin counted to ten and stayed frozen. He counted to ten again, then vaulted over. “I still see my hands coming off the railing,” he said. As he crossed the chord in flight, Baldwin recalls, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped.”
posted by criticalbill at 8:18 AM on November 20, 2004


Snopes on the person-who-will-die-when-he-is-extricated-from-an-accident story.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:00 PM on November 22, 2004


Trains, despite the occasional person getting run over, are the safest and most fun mode of travel around. And it's fairly cheap, too, Amtrak gives 15% discounts to StudentAdvantage and AAA members (I believe).
posted by echodolphin at 9:44 PM on November 22, 2004


Isn't Amtrak the one that keeps having rail disasters? Seems to me that every other year, I read newspaper reports that bring flashbacks of the opening scenes of Unbreakable to mind.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:00 AM on November 23, 2004


« Older A visual guide to how not to pull a car out of the...   |   Echo? Echo, did you say? Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments