electrocuting yourself on the third rail
Discussion
reading the local newspaper earlier and read an article about some chappy who had electrocuted himself at norbiton station just outside kingston.
if you don't know the area - our trains local trains have an electic third rail.
so what does this guy do - he needs a light, so hops across the rails between the platforms and on the way back slips and lands on the third rail. 750v later darwin stepped in.
in the paper are the obviously the upset family, understandable, and some transport group telling us how the station should be manned 24hrs a day?!?!
it just bugs me - the guy could of used the underground tunnel to reach the other side to get his light rather than hop across the lines, and its a known thing - apart from the warning signs "do not step on tracks" etc - that you don't ever wander around the railway lines in the first place.
but why should common sense prevail when you can blame "underfunding". the guy was an idiot, not sure he deserved to die for being an idiot but his own actions led to his own death.
grrr.
if you don't know the area - our trains local trains have an electic third rail.
so what does this guy do - he needs a light, so hops across the rails between the platforms and on the way back slips and lands on the third rail. 750v later darwin stepped in.
in the paper are the obviously the upset family, understandable, and some transport group telling us how the station should be manned 24hrs a day?!?!
it just bugs me - the guy could of used the underground tunnel to reach the other side to get his light rather than hop across the lines, and its a known thing - apart from the warning signs "do not step on tracks" etc - that you don't ever wander around the railway lines in the first place.
but why should common sense prevail when you can blame "underfunding". the guy was an idiot, not sure he deserved to die for being an idiot but his own actions led to his own death.
grrr.
It's amazing that the third rail is still in use when it is so obviously dangerous. At least with overheads you have to be a complete twonk to off yourself rather than a simple slip.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
planetdave said:
It's amazing that the third rail is still in use when it is so obviously dangerous. At least with overheads you have to be a complete twonk to off yourself rather than a simple slip.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
thats as well, but you can make a point of telling people, that the trains run on X volts/amps and will fry you.
you're still a darwin candidate, if you go near it
planetdave said:
It's amazing that the third rail is still in use when it is so obviously dangerous. At least with overheads you have to be a complete twonk to off yourself rather than a simple slip.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
not many people electrocute themselves on the third rail - for some reason using the raliway line as your footpath isn't particulary common.
having said that overhead lines get some of the dumbest electrocutions going.
for instance, there were some young yads breaking into car trains some around daganeham. unfortunately one of the poor souls lost his balance and instinctively put his hand up to catch himself. zap.
the family then blamed Ford for his death, who in turn expressed their sympathies and told them to get stuffed.
there are plenty of cases of pissed people peeing off of bridges. "urine is a good conductor of electricty" was possibly the last thing that went through their minds along with 25kv as well.
so, regardless of the line - there are some really daft people out there. (I say "are" and not "were" because there are countless more morons out there I'm sure).
This week in the local paper there was a news story about a kid (aged 7 I think) who climbed onto the roof of some garages (with the aid of a "dumpster" which is left next to them) and started riding his bike about. Naturally he fell off and broke and arm and fractured his skull.
Mother says "I know he shouldn't have been up there, but leaving a bin next to the garages is just asking for kids to climb up there". She now wants them locked away, council have (sensibly for once) said this won't be happening.
Gareth
Mother says "I know he shouldn't have been up there, but leaving a bin next to the garages is just asking for kids to climb up there". She now wants them locked away, council have (sensibly for once) said this won't be happening.
Gareth
tinman0 said:
It's amazing that the third rail is still in use when it is so obviously dangerous. At least with overheads you have to be a complete twonk to off yourself rather than a simple slip.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
not many people electrocute themselves on the third rail - for some reason using the raliway line as your footpath isn't particulary common.
having said that overhead lines get some of the dumbest electrocutions going.
for instance, there were some young yads breaking into car trains some around daganeham. unfortunately one of the poor souls lost his balance and instinctively put his hand up to catch himself. zap.
the family then blamed Ford for his death, who in turn expressed their sympathies and told them to get stuffed.
there are plenty of cases of pissed people peeing off of bridges. "urine is a good conductor of electricty" was possibly the last thing that went through their minds along with 25kv as well.
so, regardless of the line - there are some really daft people out there. (I say "are" and not "were" because there are countless more morons out there I'm sure).
Chucking large conductive objects such as bicycles and lengths of wire off bridges to see the sparks is another relevant unintentional suicide. People seem to treat the third rail with respect but are permanently out their bone when it comes to the overhead, with the result that the number of deaths from the two different systems are about the same.
The Docklands Light Railway trains use a safer variant, the side-contact third rail, where the rail is enclosed in an open-sided box and the collector shoe presses on the side of the rail.
Personally I reckon that overhead current collection should be phased out and replaced by side-contact third rails made of aluminium with a steel wearing face, running on about 3kV. The transmission losses would be about the same, the installation, maintenance and repair would be significantly cheaper, and there wouldn't be the distressing tendency for the pantograph to get tangled or the wind to get a bit too strong and bring down miles of wire affecting all tracks.
Also, overhead wiring is as ugly as shit and gets in the way of photography.
In the modern world there is always someone to blame for people's stupidity.
The family bleats there should have been a permanent armed guard to stop F*ckwits leaping onto the rails.
Let him take responsibility for his own actions, he was idiot, he might have won this year's Darwin award, Full stop.
The family bleats there should have been a permanent armed guard to stop F*ckwits leaping onto the rails.
Let him take responsibility for his own actions, he was idiot, he might have won this year's Darwin award, Full stop.
Perhaps it is time companies started to counter sue people that attempt to take these ridiculous arguments to court. I would imagine the combined cost of disruption and clean up for Network Rail and SWT were not inconsiderable.
"Mrs Idiot, the prosecution suggests that by a process of negligent and apathetic parenting you have raised a moron incapable of crossing a railway in a safe manner and that in so doing you have lead to the death of your son and considerabe distress to the operators of the facilities in which he chose practice his stupidity contributing significantly to their financial loss. How do you plead?"
Too harsh?
"Mrs Idiot, the prosecution suggests that by a process of negligent and apathetic parenting you have raised a moron incapable of crossing a railway in a safe manner and that in so doing you have lead to the death of your son and considerabe distress to the operators of the facilities in which he chose practice his stupidity contributing significantly to their financial loss. How do you plead?"
Too harsh?
And taken to logical extremes...
lets take all armco off the motorways and guards from all heavy machinery. Lets abolish the 30 limit in built up areas too since it's only there to protect stupid people who walk into the road.
Theres a big difference between taking a risk eg walking over a third rail and slipping and waving a pole at some overhead lines.
Let he who has never taken a risk in his life or taken a dodgy shortcut come forward for his crown.
lets take all armco off the motorways and guards from all heavy machinery. Lets abolish the 30 limit in built up areas too since it's only there to protect stupid people who walk into the road.
Theres a big difference between taking a risk eg walking over a third rail and slipping and waving a pole at some overhead lines.
Let he who has never taken a risk in his life or taken a dodgy shortcut come forward for his crown.
Pigeon said:
Personally I reckon that overhead current collection should be phased out and replaced by side-contact third rails made of aluminium with a steel wearing face, running on about 3kV. The transmission losses would be about the same, the installation, maintenance and repair would be significantly cheaper, and there wouldn't be the distressing tendency for the pantograph to get tangled or the wind to get a bit too strong and bring down miles of wire affecting all tracks.
Also, overhead wiring is as ugly as shit and gets in the way of photography.
yup I'd vote for that, overheads are horrendously expensive and fall down at the merest whiff of wind judging by the delays
its all down to £££££££££££££££'s,the legacy of the 'No Win No Fee' brigade.planetdave said:
It's amazing that the third rail is still in use when it is so obviously dangerous. At least with overheads you have to be a complete twonk to off yourself rather than a simple slip.
Lets see - human body tends to be 'x' long so lets make the distance from live rail to earth =x-a lot.
You appear to frequent the wrong website - please redirect yourself to www.nannystateenthusiast.com
I agree, the muppet should have been thrown away with the afterbirth. Perhaps they should have taken photos of his fried corpse and hung them in the stations. That would be cheaper than guards.
No win-no fee should be counteracted by a heavy personal fine in the light of a failed case.
I reckon railway voltages could pretty much cook a corpse.
No win-no fee should be counteracted by a heavy personal fine in the light of a failed case.
I reckon railway voltages could pretty much cook a corpse.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff