Same-Sex Marriage Bill REJECTED in New York State Senate
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Catholic League Pissed at PETA
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
Yesterday morning, a woman was killed by an uptown 6 train when she was unable to get off of the tracks. Jean Eng of Chinatown was trying to retrieve her fallen purse at the southern part of the tracks. The Daily News says that she had tried to look for a pole to fish the purse out, but dropped down to the tracks when she couldn't find an aid. People tried to help her up from the tracks (which are a 5-foot drop from the platform), but didn't have enough time; other sources say that Eng may have been "mentally handicapped, and might not have been aware of the danger of climbing down to the tracks." The MTA does have notices in the subways saying not to retrieve things in the tracks in different language. It hasn't been a good week for the 6 train; a man committed suicide by jumping onto the tracks at Canal Street on Tuesday.
Last year, a woman was killed by an oncoming train when she tried to retrieve her cellphone from the tracks. After hearing about stories like these, Gothamist makes sure we stand a good distance from the platform edge. The NY Press had a story about why the L train shouldn't be computerized - a man had fallen in during an epileptic fit. The Observer looked at the phenomenon of feeling like the subway trains are pulling you towards them as they enter the stations (more reason not to stand near the platform edge). Here's the MTA's guide to riding safely.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
If I dropped something on the tracks, and it was important to me, I'd go down and pick it up too. I think i'm fit enough to jump back onto the platform before a train arrives. 'd just make damn sure to avoid the 3rd Rail and to look BOTH WAYS and make sure no train is near.
And if its one of those stations where it turns into the station at an angle (Grand Central) and you cant tell when its coming, dont take any chances.
Kojak, sure hope you're good at pullups. It's that attitude that gets people killed.
What on earth do you carry with you on the subway that is important enough to jump down there? I usually have a wallet, cell phone, an ipod; all very replaceable. It's not just that you may be hit by a train, it's also that:
1) it's disgusting down there
2) you may be arrested
3) that third rain thingy
4) you going to cause a huge scene
Thanks jt, I try my best.
In Most stations there are few or no MTA employees around to help you retrieve your items.
I'd like to see you drop your Cell Phone and not make an attempt to pick it up yourself when no ones around.
lol So your going to leave your ipod and just buy another one? You LIE through your teeth! Hope you loose your ipod when im nearby. I'll make sure to pick it up. :-D
Ok, there are exceptions. If its a crowded station with people around such as Penn or 14th or Times Square, THEN i'll let someone know.
Seems like there are lots of people dying over the contents of their purses lately.
Amen, Julius.
Who the hell would want to even attempt to get on those tracks- with all the human spew, rat spew, sewage, and whatever else, I would take the loss of a ring, ipod, ...
this is the best part:
"she had tried to look for a pole to fish the purse out"
Thanks for posting this, Jen. I was hoping you would because it reminds me of a similar incident that happened to my daughter and I. I realized that what we found out could save someone's life.
My daughter's 7. When we were getting on the train, some guy knocked a beloved toy out of her hand and back onto the platform. She reached for it, and of course instead of grabbing it she knocked it into the black abyss between train and platform. She's wailing, I'm thinking it's gone, that's it, game over. But she can't be consoled. We get off the train at the next stop, rather than subject the whole #2 train to the wailing, and in a desperate attempt to calm her down, I tell her we'll ask the trainmen if there's anything that can be done.
I've been riding the trains for twenty years. I know there's nothing that can be done.
The trainmen tell me, "Oh, yeah, they can get it back, just talk to the guy in the dispatch room."
Really? Really. The guy immediately grabs one of those poles you use to get the toilet paper down from the top shelf in the supermarket and says, "Where're we going?" I told him it was the last station up. He calls ahead, tells us to check in with the token taker. To make a short story boring, we see the guy in the booth, he calls somebody, about 45 minutes later she's got her toy back. And it's not even skeevy.
Who knew they train guys did this? "Not enough people," says the guy. "We get stuff all the time, but nobody knows we do this."
People, seriously, you can ask a conductor, or a token taker, or somebody, and they'll get somebody down to get your stuff. It may try your patience, but it beats being hit square by an oncoming subway train.
I've droped my phone, blackberry, and some books
everytime I've droped-in and retrieved it with no problems; the only thing being my hands get dirty from pulling myself out.
if you're physically fit and not clumsey, as long as you are aware of where the train is, it's not that big of a problem.
oy! So many people attest that they are "physically fit and healthy". That's great. Many such people have died in defiance of the subway rules.
If you calculate wrong about any oncoming trains - and if they cannot stop in time - physically fit means jack shit. Those trains are going over 40-50mph and much of the time, you don't know one is coming until it's really close. If it's not late at night, another train could be there in as little as a few minutes.
It seems that a lot of people who were killed were not oblivious to the oncoming train, and tried to get out of the way by jumping back onto the platform. Apparently, that doesn't work for a lot of people, as one can tell from seeing how often such articles appear here. In any case, that's a terrible way to die.
Stand near the center of the platform and tell the conductor. Deal with the inconvenience. Don't get killed over a hand gadget.
If someone wants to Jump down to get their Blackberry, Ipod, Etc., Regardless of being "Physically Fit", Anyone jumping down onto the tracks is playing Russian Roulette.
You only need to be hit once.
It all comes down to what happens in the heat of the moment. If your for or against going down to track level for any reason. Sometimes common sense doesn’t enter into play and you act on instinct.
I’d bet good money most people who say they wouldn’t attempt something like this probably would if put in the same situation.
i'm not encouraging anyone to drop-down like I have, but if the train is approaching and you can't get out of the way, you're supposed to lay down between the tracks...the train will just go over you. :)
further more, the best time to drop down and retrieve your item is right after the train pulls out of the platform. Even if there is a train right behind waiting to pull in to the platform, based on the my timing, it will take aprx. at the very least 10 seconds - which is more than enough time for an athlete to drop in, retrieve, jump out.
If the athlete has such butterfingers that he's dropping $400 iPods off the platform, there's an athlete I'd rather not have playing on my team.
I once saw someone get hit by the C train. Not something I want to ever experience again...
If someone wants to gamble with their lives over something like a purse or an ipod, then fine. It's your life. Personally, I'm too much of a coward...
I love it - "if you're physically fit and not clumsy, go for it." Buddy, if you're not clumsy, there's nothing to pick up. The fact that you just dropped something worth retreiving into a death-dealing ditch should be your first clue that you're not able to go get it on your own.
actually, the train does not just go over you. This and other places to not hide I've learned from other Gothamist threads on the same subject. There is stuff on the side and bottom of the train that could easily turn you into hamburger unless you are skin and bones. Best bet is to jump into those alcoves on the inside walls for track workers. Plenty of room as long as you don't touch the third rail.
And really, most people are not that strong or that tall even. You can be a strong person but if you aren't tall enough, you won't get enough leverage to get out. Five feet is pretty high to scale when you're only 5'6". Best bet: just get the token booth guy -- if the MTA hasn't cut that position yet at your station.
PS -- and Ben, if you've already lost things in the tracks before, why do you continue to be a butterfingers next to an open track? Why not stand further away or hold on to your stuff better? I've lived here for over four years and never lost anything on the tracks.
A friend of mine dropped something on the tracks once, and asked an MTA employee for help, and WAS TOLD by an MTA employee to get it himself.
lol Damn Kate.
Gotta love the MTA. Always looking out for our safety.
Shoulda thrown that guy onto the tracks.
Um, could someone tell me where the third rail is? Not that I'm interested in going onto the tracks or anything...
The 3rd rail is just to the outside of the track, on the side away from the platform. It's that raised rail thing with a cover over it.
And to answer your next question, no, I have not succeeded in peeing on the third rail.
The third rail only turns on if a incoming train is approaching.
ALso i got a story. I was on 86st and lexington avenue and I was trying to go downtown, and this was late at night. so I was on the uptown platform, and being that you cant transfer downtown, I jumped on to the tracks, and walked over to the downtown platform. Was no big deal, Its just like crossing a street.
Wow, I can't believe how cavalier and foolhardy some of you people are. But I'll make money off you anyway. I';m coming to nyc and shooting an episode of my new series "MTA Fear Factor." The challenge: hopping down to the track and retrieving your wallet while eating a live rat.
Sweet. sign me up for that fear factor and gimme the money. as kids we used to crush coins on the elevated 7. I still have the sandwiched nickel-penny-nickel slugs sitting in my drawer.
I've run from station to station, most recently while drunk and bored with friends waiting for a train that was taking too long. Also in high school when I used to write graff. Its fun but you come out really really dirty with black soot and the gound has deep puddles filled with the nastiest "water" that smells like death.
I had a friend who would jump into the tracks and wait for a train to come and basically play chicken with the L train, waiting as long as he could before climbing out. And he was shorter than me, I'm 5'10".
If you're smart and careful you can play in the tracks as much as you want. You dont need to be particularly athletic. It just takes some practice :)
Hey you daredevils, bet I can guess your favorite vegetable:
Squash.
"If you're smart and careful you can play in the tracks as much as you want. You dont need to be particularly athletic. It just takes some practice :)"
(sigh)
And Just think, With a little Practice, You could also Subway Surf!
Riddle me this, folks, Why is jumping on the Tracks an Acceptable risk for some, but Apparently Subway Surfing isn't?
I Just don't get it.
"If you're smart and careful you can play in the tracks."
It'a always fun to watch the logic of a sentence collapse on itself.
"The third rail only turns on if a incoming train is approaching."
I don't know about you, but that's something I'm not willing to verify.
You people who think it's possible to be "smart and careful" while hanging out on the subway tracks frighten me... I swear I lose a good week off my own life every time I see someone take a stupid risk in a subway station, and I've never even seen anyone dumb enough, or unlucky enough, to actually get down onto the tracks; I'm just talking people who jump between the closing doors, assuming they won't be dragged, or the people who push their way to the very edge of the tracks so they can be the first to get on the train when it arrives. People die doing these things! Even if you don't value your own life enough to care, spare me the anxiety, please. I don't care to witness any grisly subway-related incidents.
some 1 said the train comes 40-50 mph. Actually it comes 20-30 mph, so if ya in the tracks you have time to climb out. I do think the subway is a nice place to meet women. And to impress a female, i would jump in the tracks and come out to get a female.
I remember being really disturbed by most of the comments in here at the time. This poor guy was probably just as crazy all of you talking about running across the tracks. A lost $2 fare isn't worth dying over for real.
These comments are just some of the stupidest things I ever heard. If I dropped something in the tracks, I would ask one of the MTA personnel for help. I would not dare cross the tracks, not even for a million dollars. Two things to consider when you are in the tracks dumbasses: (1) An oncoming train is rushing towards you at a speed that no average human can outrun, (2) There is the third rail (for the people who don't know, the rail on the outside that is covered up by wood), pumped up with over 600 volts of current and electricity that can electrocute you & fry you till you are as burnt to a crisp like charcoal and over burnt food, both meaning instant DEATH. Like the guy said before, you are playing Russian Roulette with your lives if you are playing around in the tracks. I would never do it & I would NOT allow anybody to force me or convince me to go get an object dropped in the subway tracks. If you wanna be a daredevil & do dumb shit, hey, its your life. Go ahead with your stunts, I guarantee you will not live to tell about it. Just because people back in the 1970's and 1980's played daredevils and put up grafitti in the subways doesn't mean that they survived doing it. The news doesn't report every incident that goes on in the city and I bet plenty of these daredevils either got their body grinded up from being hit by a train or fried & barbecued to the point of no survival by accidentally touching the third rail.
There is simple solution to this problem, do not stand by the friggin' subway platform edge! If you do this, not only will you be safer but you will also avoid loosing shit in the tracks. Some people said that the third rail power cuts off before the train enters the station, BULLSHIT. The third rail is LIVE (meaning turned on and pumped full of electricity) all the time & until I hear a story that someone touched it in the station and survived, I am not going to investigate the scientific methods and myths of curiousity and death. Anyways, your life is your perogative. Just don't be the dumb muthafucka doin' it in front of my eyes cause if I see somebody hit by the train or electrocuted by the third rail, I might need psychiatric help. Just like the conductors say 'Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors', stand clear of the fucking platform edge and stay away from it, cause there are some crazy muthafuckas in this city that are blood thirst and wouldn't think twice to push off off the platform in front of an oncoming train. You live and learn from experience but that's one experience you learn without living afterwards. Don't be a dumb muthfucka, stand clear of the fucking platform edge!!
For the dumb muthafuckas who think this is a joke & like to do stunts such as subway surfing, read this atricle about a 14 year old boy who did it & see if he lived to tell the story,
.
All this dumb shit that yo say about the subway tracks being ok to play in does influence kids to do it. The worst thing is to have kids think
that dumb shit like cool, risque, thuggish, or gangsta will cause them to do it because of peer pressure and the ambition to be popular among their fellow classmates. Kids are our future, don't convince them to end their lives because you want to end yours. One day, you might be playing these games on the subway tracks and you will end up loosing your life instead of winning an adrenaline rush.
All this shit that y'all are saying about subway playing being fun defies all the laws of smart, street smart & logical thinking. Don't worry, you will find out that you can't defy the laws of physics and conduction (by electricity) when you are hit by a train or electrocuted by the third rail. Dammit, use your fucking COMMON SENSE and stay away from the fucking platform edge!!
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=34107, for some reason the link didn't come out when I typed it in. This is the news article about that 14 year old's death from attempting to surf atop an underground C train. Don't be influencing kids to do dumb shit like this, they got a whole life ahead of them & they are our future. If you have a heart, don't endanger the minds and lives of our youth.
Here is the link: http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=34107
Tragically, this topic keeps coming up. My deepest condolences to the family.
For the people who say "No Big deal jumping back and forth!" , as individuals, if you want to play Russian Roulette with a gun, It's your privilege. Kindly make sure no one else is in the line of fire.
As for me: I own nothing that is worth risking my life over. That includes my camera, Wedding Ring, etc. Anything of mine falls to the tracks, I'll either Kiss it good bye or harass the Station attendant to arrange to get it.
I really hope we don't read about any of you dare devils jumping down to the tracks...