How often does a train hit someone?

Question

I was riding the Via Rail on friday the 13th and we hit some guy he was dead and his body was in pieces. I was just wondering does this happen a lot on the Via rail/Go Train?

Answer 1

transportation statistics are available from usa bureau of transportation statistics - detailed info is there.

operation lifesaver is a program that aims to reduce trespasser incidents on rr tracks, and also to promote auto/rail crossing safety.  www.oli.org.

they have a year by year stats table, tables for trespass, tables for auto/rail crossings, tables by states, and so on.  

http://www.oli.org/statistics/trespassin...

on average, in usa, there are around 400 +or-  trespasser fatalities per year.   this would average out to more than 1 per day (ie, 365 days in a year).  trespasser fatalities are people without vehicles...crossings fatalities are people in cars, trucks, semi rigs, and other vehicles using roads at rail crossings, and those numbers are much higher.

in 2007, in usa, the # of trespasser fatalities was 486.  over 1000 were injured.

not sure offhand what the numbers is in canada, but for an overall average, it would probably be around or more than 1 per day.  statscan or operation lifesaver canada might have the stats for that.

in spite of the fixed path of the train, the headlights, the flashing ditch lights, the horns, and the noise of the locomotives, people still get hit by trains  -- because people are on the tracks where they dont belong, or bcs they go running in front of a train thinking they can "make it".  the other crowd of trespasser fatalities are suicides.

Answer 2

Almost every time the train is moving and somebody gets in its way.

Answer 3

It happens all the time in Chicago, which has more grade crossings than anywhere in the world.  Whereever there is a crossing gate, there will be some moron who thinks he can get to the other side before the train gets there.   I don't know about Via Rail however.  Probably no different in Canada.

Answer 4

Without having the statistics available all I can say is it happens far far too often.

People get hit for a number of reasons and all are avoidable.

A tragedy that should never happen.

The answer above about trains being much safer than roads is absolutely correct, for ton/miles hauled, far fewer people are killed by trains than in traffic accidents involving trucks, still, even one death is too many and sad to say, there are lots more than that.

I give you a star, shows you are thinking so hopefully you wont become a statistic, thank you for asking.

Answer 5

Actually, I think it happens a lot more frequently than people realize.  My parents were on an Amtrak a few years ago from Chicago to St. Louis, and it hit 2 people (one a pedestrian, one a car) on the same trip!

Answer 6

Not often enough!

Answer 7

Every year about a hundred people are killed by trains in the UK. They include people walking on railway lines when they shouldn't, e.g. children or people under the influence of alcohol or drugs, suicides and, sadly, rail workers as well.

Even with today's hi-tech railway and safety standards, there are still fatalities among rail staff, as in the accident last year when 3 rail maintenance workers were killed when an equipment trolley ran away.

There was also a tragic accident on a Heritage Railway last Christmas when a man who had been on a train stepped off at a station; when he tried to get on the train again he fell between the train and the platform and was killed.

Answer 8

there are some real idiots that fool around on and around the train tracks doing some of the stupidest things, these people make up the major number of people killed on the rails

Answer 9

Usually only once!

Answer 10

trains dont hit people. they dont jump off the tracks. People get on he tracks and hit the trains.

Answer 11

i work for national rial and it happens quite offten. every couple of days

Answer 12

It's relatively rare.  Trains are much safer than roads.