Department of Duh
Stay off subway tracks:
According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, there were 702 cases of people on the tracks between 1990 and 2003, the same period as the study. Roughly half of them resulted in death.
Suicide and "subway surfing" are the main causes of death. Pushing deaths, while tragic, are more rare than your paranoid aunt from Phoenix thinks:
Perhaps one reason the number of subway accidents is relatively low is because of increased vigilance following the case of Renee Katz. Ms. Katz, an honor student at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan who sang soprano and played flute, was 17 in 1979 when she was pushed onto the tracks at the West 50th Street station.
She was able to dodge death by rolling to her left, but her right hand was severed. It took 16 hours of surgery to reattach the hand.
Today, she is raising a family, working as an occupational therapist and still singing. She has even recorded an album of cabaret songs, called "Never Been Gone."
Ms. Katz thought the topic of Dr. Guth's study was intriguing, if a bit strange. "If it raises awareness about safety, that is good," she said. "That was one of the few good things to come out my experience."
Post Author:
rj3 | 9:19 AM |
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TrackBacks
Singapore's subway system has glass walls all along the outer edge of the platforms, with sliding doors that align with the doors of the train.
Not only does it prevent people from falling the tracks, it also makes climate control in the station easier by keeping the air-conditioned air within the station and not leaking out through the tunnels, or outside, in above-ground stations.
Also, I'm thinking that the platforms could be made slightly narrower, since you don't need an extra few feet as "room for error".
