What is the safest position to sit on a train ?

hi2u_uk said:

Isn't this the attitude in usa

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Probably. Just look who they voted for.

hi2u_uk said:

Isn't this the attitude in usa

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In the USA trains are specifically designed to hit something, which is why heavy rail in the States is HEAVY. This is due to the prevalence of grade crosiings. Check out a US cab ride video and see how the engineer is on the horn all the time with the bell clanging in urban areas (unless it is designated a quiet zone).

Falcon1200 said:

Given the rarity of rail accidents, and the cost of fitting seatbelts to thousands of seats, I would very much doubt it. Not to mention the impossibility of actually getting passengers to use them; I was on a local service on a brand new Oxford Bus Company vehicle the other day, fitted (to my surprise) with seatbelts, and although there was even an announcement instructing us to use the seat belts, no-one, including me, did.

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Having been in a coach crash when I was young, I would always use a seat belt on a coach. The incident was, in the event, fairly minor, but could easily have been significantly worse. I remember when everyone got on the school coach the next morning there was an unspoken “we’re all going to wear the seat belts from now on”. ISTR at the time seat belts were just beginning to become universal in coaches.

I probably wouldn’t if fitted to trains though. The likelihood of being involved in an incident is so minimal.

I imagine an airline seat would be safer than a table seat, as there's less chance of being hit by something in the event of a sudden stop. Especially with really tall tombstone seats, like the ones the GWR HSTs had.

In a rear facing table seat, I imagine anything on the table, such as laptops and gadgets would go flying at you in such an incident.

So on that basis, rear facing airline seats would be the safest.