We have a relative who is a Conductor, the person in charge of the
entire train. He has worked on rail for all of his life. Know that no
railroad employee ever has a cavalier attitude towards accidents on the
tracks. I also know that there are many hundreds of tons of steel moving
that cannot stop on a dime.
On 2022-01-10 16:46, Gary Bletsch wrote:
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Dear Tweeters,
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>
Thanks to Mark Tomboulian for broaching this topic. Just the other
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day, I too noticed a party of birders (or perhaps photographers)
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standing on the railroad tracks near the Swinomish Casino. One of them
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was actually sitting on the rails. Their view of the Emperor Goose was
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at best marginally better than the one I enjoyed by standing on a
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gravel walking path. I reckon I was 300 meters from the bird, and the
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trespassers had closed the range to perhaps 285 meters.
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>
Common sense would tell us all that any reasonably fit person could
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easily, almost effortlessly get out of the way of an oncoming train.
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>
Common sense does not reign supreme in human affairs. Over 400 people
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die in the U.S. every year after being hit by a train, according to
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the FRA. From reading newspaper accounts of such deaths from time to
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time, I have come to suspect that a lot of the incidents involve
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intoxicated people and the mentally ill. Others involve clueless teens
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walking the tracks while listening to music on headphones. Then there
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is the mistake of thinking that there is one set of tracks, when there
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are really multiple rail lines running parallel; the victim hears the
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horn blast, jumps off one set of tracks, and gets hit on the other
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side.
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US News and World Report states that a 40-year-old Tacoma man died on
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New Year's Day after being hit by a train while trespassing.
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A railroad employee presumably does not wish to expend energy trying
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to ascertain whether a given trespasser has the wits to get out of the
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way. I can't say I'd blame him-once he's responded to one such
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incident, he'd rather not do it again. Clueless teen, drunken
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vagabond, die-hard birder--they all look the same to Burlington
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Northern.
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As I understand it, trespassing is a misdemeanor, so a conviction
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could involve jail time and a hefty fine.
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I doubt that any birders or photographers are going to be hit by a
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train. I also doubt that anyone in the Padilla Bay area will end up
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being cited for trespassing. However, the railroad might decide to "do
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something." Right now, it is easy to view the Emperor Goose and all
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the other birds out there at the southwest corner of Padilla Bay. I'd
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hate to get out there and find all the roadside pullouts blocked off
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and a barrier erected along the tracks!
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>
Yours truly,
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>
Gary Bletsch
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Sent with ProtonMail [1] Secure Email.
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Links:
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------
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