"Man clipped by train pulling into railway station"

[dannypye9999]

Shame idiocy wasn't a crime as he would've been locked up a long time ago. If he wants to find out the reason why there are signs saying "stay behind the yellow line" then that's fine by me. No doubt it would've been the poor station managers being the ones getting blamed if anything bad happened as whenever someone dies due to their own stupidity on the railways it's always someone's else fault.

 

[AverageJoe]

It really annoys me when I’m pulling into a platform and someone is close to the edge.

Often it will be a group of drinkers with the backs to the track edging closer to the platform edge, or when there is a group gathered unnecessarily close to the edge and then someone tries to squeeze around them.

Plenty of times I’ve slowed right down, used the horn and gestured for them to move back.

I then get a barrage of abuse shouted at me as I pass them as if I’ve just done it for the fun of it.

Would be interesting to see the full clip and if this guy was as close to the edge when the the train entered the platform.

I think I may have come to a stand thinking it’s a potential suicide attempt.

 

[43066]

The thing that immediately sprung to mind was low blood sugar. As someone with diabetes I can assure you that to the untrained eye it can resemble drunkenness.

There might be a slim chance of that, but the vast majority of people who act in the way this guy did on station platforms are not diabetic, and are simply drunk and/or on something else.

Several people have done exactly that- assumed the person was either drunk or on something else. Medical conditions such as diabetes can affect people of any age and income. Certainly the person's choice of attire has nothing to do with it.

No, several people have suggested a high likelihood that he may be drunk or on something else, including my own post you quoted above. Those with experience of the railway environment know that that is far more likely than the alternatives, and indeed is a big problem nowadays, and one that drives a lot of dangerous and bad behaviour. Hence why this video has been released.

I’m not really sure what people listing medical conditions that may have (but almost certainly didn’t) caused the behaviour adds to the discussion.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There might be a slim chance of that, but the vast majority of people who act in the way this guy did on station platforms are not diabetic, and are simply drunk and/or on something else.



No, several people have suggested a high likelihood that he may be drunk or on something else, including my own post you quoted above. Those with experience of the railway environment know that that is far more likely than the alternatives, and indeed is a big problem nowadays, and one that drives a lot of dangerous and bad behaviour. Hence why this video has been released.

I’m not really sure what people listing medical conditions that may have (but almost certainly didn’t) caused the behaviour adds to the discussion.

People have died of an untreated hypo because people have assumed they were intoxicated, and simply avoided them rather than calling police or an ambulance. You may consider it a niche example, but I'm sure you'd view it differently if yourself or a loved one was at risk of such things.
That said, it is still the responsibility of individuals to manage their condition to minimise the risk of incidents like that. However when that fails, assuming the worst of a person isn't particularly constructive or helpful.

 

[Lewisham2221]

People have died of an untreated hypo because people have assumed they were intoxicated, and simply avoided them rather than calling police or an ambulance. You may consider it a niche example, but I'm sure you'd view it differently if yourself or a loved one was at risk of such things.
That said, it is still the responsibility of individuals to manage their condition to minimise the risk of incidents like that. However when that fails, assuming the worst of a person isn't particularly constructive or helpful.

Whether it was a health condition, substance based impairment, or something else which caused the stumble/step/lean forwards - contact with the train could well have been avoided if the chap had been stood behind the yellow, like everybody else in the video, until the train had come to a complete stop. He's not even "just a toe" over the yellow line, he's far too close to the edge of the platform before he stumbles.

 

[arb]

contact with the train could well have been avoided if the chap had been stood behind the yellow, like everybody else in the video, until the train had come to a complete stop.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is why you stay behind the yellow line "until the train has come to a complete stop."

The person in the video stumbled inexplicably, put out his hands to stop the fall, and hit the train. If he had been behind the yellow line, I'd say it was 50-50 whether he would have been able to completely stop himself from falling by taking a step or two forwards, or if he would have just fallen over completely and still hit the train as he fell.

The only way you can completely stop falling people from hitting the train is to move the yellow line to be at least 2 metres away from the platform edge. It's never been entirely clear to me how the position of the yellow line is chosen. Yes the line lowers the risk of somebody falling and hitting a train, but it clearly won't stop people from hitting the train in every case where they fall over completely, faint, etc. Therefore we must have.decided that some kinds of stumbles and falls are an acceptable risk, but not all.

Why is the yellow line a different distance from the edge of the platform at different stations? At some tube stations it is laughably close to the platform edge. Maybe the person in the video normally travels between two such stations and is therefore standing in a "normal" position for their regular stations?

 

[AverageJoe]

It’s not there to provide the perfect distance to for a falling person to avoid making contact with the train.

If that were the case you would have to measure it based on the tallest person in the uk, potentially the world just in case they came to visit.

You would also have to account for the fact people often stumble before falling.

The line is there to provide a reasonable distance between people and the train and it works just fine when people obey it.

If the men above was behind they yellow line potentially someone would have been close enough to see him looking like he would fall and quickly grab him, I’ve actually seen videos like this and they likely saved the persons life.

 

[74A]

The line was originally put there because people used to be hit by opening doors when the train came into the platform.

It remained because it was useful to have a demarcated gap to make it easier to see that no one was touching the train during despatch.

 

[Elecman]

The line was originally put there because people used to be hit by opening doors when the train came into the platform.

It remained because it was useful to have a demarcated gap to make it easier to see that no one was touching the train during despatch.

It wasn’t it was introduced for when trains circa 100+ mph passed through stations non stop to mitigate against the suction effects of wind turbulence

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Whatever the cause, lucky the man fell over when he did - a few seconds earlier, he might have fallen in front of the train. My heart stopped for a second; so lucky to have retained both his legs...

 

[PyrahnaRanger]

And that ladies and gentlemen, is why you stay behind the yellow line "until the train has come to a complete stop."

As long as you can see the line. I haven't seen any station where the tactile paving for those using canes is on the "safe" side of the yellow line?