Soon to be Darwin Award Winner

[fredintoon]

The difference Fred is the others check all of the various hazards and try to make allowances for them. - - -

Hi Steve,
and how do you know he didn't? All it'd take is a suitably sized framework set on the crossties a few miles up the track and an observer with a cell phone to call and say nothing hit it.

[slow mo]

lard tunderin jesus

me tinks dem byes is fram da rock!! ride safe see you at xs north!! slow mo

[Dragon Tamer]

Yah know Fred, I almost never disagree with you but this moron obviously did not plan this stunt to any extent. The look of terror on his face should prove that. The other guys that plan their stunts have a backup plan, be it a parachute or whatever. The only thing this guy could have had was an escape tunnel and if he had even that it apparently did not work.

[jimbyjimb]

Every high risk activity needs careful planning for the perpetrator to survive.
How is laying on the tracks as a train runs over you different from skydiving?
Or those clowns in wingsuits?
Or some nutcase Frenchman shinnying up the outside of a skyscraper?
I'd say that the reason the track-clinger is mocked as a Darwin Award candidate while all the rest of the risk-takers are applauded as daredevils is
that the daredevil needs serious money and a back-up crew to pull his stunts.
All the track-clinger needs is access to a railroad.
Mocking the one while adulating the rest is snobbery, pure and simple.

Hi Fred,

I see your sources of comparison somewhat flawed models. Here's why:

Skydiving cannot be done in the United States without careful planning and the submission of a defined plan to the FAA. In order to skydive one must first be proven healthy enough to do so by a medical practitioner, educated and jump in tandem with an experienced skydiver. Should a person jump out of a plane without a parachute or skydive illegally I would see it as I see the moron under the train.

I really don't have any firsthand knowledge of wingsuits, so I have no comment here.

While I agree with you about the nutcase Frenchman, assuming he did it without expressed consent, I would wager he was a highly experienced freehand climber. Now, if the escapade were pre-planned and approved by appropriate authorities BEFORE said Frenchman climbed up the skyscraper it would not be the same thing as the train track guy at all, would it?

A pre-planned stunt ensures everyone involved is prepared for the possible eventuality a gruesome death may occur. How do you think a train operator would feel if they had unwillingly participated in the death of some young man? By hopping under the tracks without the approval of legal authorities the young man not only endangered his own life but the conscience and sanity of those involved whether they be so willingly or not.

Surely his head popping like a grape would have had altering effects on the camera man or any other passerby in the vicinity? It is my belief they were unprepared for this eventuality.

Furthermore, Seattle/Tacoma is simply buried in train tracks. I have been around trains my whole life. Many of the tracks pre-date the city around them. I was taught and well-knew very young that trains are not trivial toys to be played with. Trains are one of the if not the most destructive and powerful land-forces of all time. Stopping that much weight is near impossible and my substantial 230lbs would have no effect whatsoever in a trains itinerary. If this young man failed to realize this it is a failing of his inadequate intelligence or of his parents and guardians ability to impress upon him the fragility of life.

Pre-planning shows an acceptance and appreciation for mortality. Jumping under the tracks to see what happens is a supreme act of idiocy and should rightly be ridiculed as such. Equating intelligent risk with ignorant risk is snobbery, pure and simple.

[fredintoon]

Jumping under the tracks to see what happens is a supreme act of idiocy and should rightly be ridiculed as such.

Hi Jim,
you are absolutely right and I totally agree with you.
However, so is jumping out of an airplane in the hope that a backpack full of cloth and cordage will save you.
Or walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls.
Or skiing in avalanche country.
Or many another thing I wouldn't do for a million dollars.
They are ALL idiots and they ALL deserve ridicule.
What's snobbish is only mocking the thrill-seeker who is risking his life on a low budget.

[STEPPENWOLF]

I have hopped a lot of freights,walked a lot of track miles and still ride the rails now but by Amtrak but to being under a train between the rail??1st place idiotImagine that.

[Fix]

Fred,

I'll start my post by saying "Airborne" as I'm one of those idiots who jumped out of aircraft for a living in the Army.

Feel free to mock me.

According to the youtube video, which is all the evidence I have to go on, they were crossing a stopped train (idiot move) when the train began moving and the last guy fell and got dragged under the train 10 or 15 feet.

If that's to be believed, he did something stupid and it almost cost him his life (a few times).

What I did may have been stupid, but at the very least I received training before I did it.

In closing, there are a lot of people who feel the same way about motorcycling that you feel about parachuting. Everyone has a line between judging something as fun or stupid.

[jimbyjimb]

Hi Jim,
you are absolutely right and I totally agree with you.
However, so is jumping out of an airplane in the hope that a backpack full of cloth and cordage will save you.
Or walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls.
Or skiing in avalanche country.
Or many another thing I wouldn't do for a million dollars.
They are ALL idiots and they ALL deserve ridicule.
What's snobbish is only mocking the thrill-seeker who is risking his life on a low budget.

Hi Fred,

I would see your point, but you fail to address specific concerns I have about your reasoning. While I'm not implying you are accountable to me for anything I am implying that if your reason for friendly debate is to educate us to another thought process or outlook you aren't adequately articulating the precise reasoning.

As I said above, there are many, many procedural and cautionary processes attached to skiing or skydiving or bungee jumping (usually). When a dangerous activity is taking place that is unsanctioned and places unprepared others by happenstance in the vicinity it is not the same thing as a Red Bull sponsored rocket-sled, or an Evel Knievel stunt.

I think it is more snobbish to mock an educated, prepared, presumably controlled scenario than it is to mock an act of sheer stupidity.

There are many things I wouldn't do, like climbing K2. K2 climbers go through years being educated and training for the climb of K2. Some die. Some die horribly. They are prepared for it. Their families are prepared for it. Their co-climbers are prepared for it.

The train engineer is not necessarily prepared to know his train killed some idiot. That idiots filming buddy is most likely not prepared for it. The little kids at the picnic bench watching the scenario unfold are not prepared.

If you can explain to me how and why I should view planned dangerous activities the same as unplanned acts of spontaneous stupidity I'll happily concede the point!

Cheers and I hope Canada has better weather than Seattle!

[jimbyjimb]

Hi again Fred,

I hope you know my intention is not to mock you or be a smartass. I think, on many things, you have a different and interesting point of view. I'm rather curious as to your thought process and that is why I pose these questions.

-Jim

[fredintoon]

Hi Jim,
my point was that it seemed to me that the posters were not mocking the guy for being under a train but because he was a yobbo.
And Mike,
I have a morbid fear of heights so despite your training and being under military discipline when you jumped, yes, I think you are nuts.
Same like my son, who went bunjie jumping. What a maroon!

[ViperRon]

I found a way to like it.

If you just imagine your favorite politician instead of the moron you can really enjoy the clip. Heck I even went so far as to dream about the dangling cable senario.

[Fix]

And Mike,
I have a morbid fear of heights so despite your training and being under military discipline when you jumped, yes, I think you are nuts.
Same like my son, who went bunjie jumping. What a maroon!

Oh, I'm nuts for certain. I just argue the idiot title. Mostly with my wife. It hurt my feelings when you took her side.