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A woman looking to see if a train was coming was hit by a D train on Saturday afternoon. From the Daily News' account, it seems that the woman was looking in the "opposite direction of the oncoming D train" and that she was swaying "dangerously," with the front of the second-to-last car hitting her in the head. Then, "The train roared by, knocking her down about 20 yards from the southern tip of the platform. The impact bounced her several feet and sent blood pouring onto the tracks below" An NYU law student got out of the train that hit Novak and held her hand until the parademics came, but Novak died at the hospital.
This is a terrible story, which confirms the MTA warning that you shouldn't stand too close to the platform edge. In fact, you should position yourself as far as you can from the edge of the platform - the wind from the subway can causing swaying, even if you're conscious. If a train's coming, it's coming and you'll hear it - don't look down the tunnel unless you're a couple feet from the edge. There are too many cases of people being too close to the platform, fainting, and falling into the tracks.
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I have fainted in the subway before, as I was exiting a train. I've also seen other people faint, but thank god I've never seen anyone fall into the tracks.
I always try to plan what I would do if I were to fall into the tracks, hoping that I would remember it in the panic. Most of all, don't climb over the third rail to stand in between the express and local lines or in those little cubby areas. Likewise don't try to climb back up. Run for the front of the train and go a little further into the tracks--the train will stop there anyway, and that's usually where the ladders are to get back to the platform.
This story is horrible, but I hope it encourages people to stand back from the edge, ask for help when they're feeling faint or ill (boy, did I learn my lesson there), and figure out a plan of action if something were to happen.
Not siding with gothamist or anyone here but,
At least one person would still be alive if she listened to what was posted.
Why are people so anxious that they need to look down a dark tunnel?
Why aren't you supposed to try to climb back up?
Frankly, people who do this deserve what they get. The train isn't going to arrive any faster if you look for it.
Personally, I think people getting hit in the head when looking the wrong way for the train is pretty damn funny; it happens several times a year, and I laugh out loud each time.
chris: what an incredibly callous thing to say. it's human instinct to be curious or impatient, like pressing a button in an elevator even tho it won't make it go any faster. how can you say a woman deserved to die just because she gave in to an instinct like that?
I'm just as impatient as the next New Yorker, but it's so easy to kick back on the platform and watch other people look over the edge for you. Their reaction will *immediately* tell you if the train's coming.
it's not instinct. if it were, heads would be lobbed off and rolling left and right. but hey, if you insist it is instinct, then maybe the rest of us are too dumb to act on it. now if that be the case, then it is an evolutionary feat that we, who do not yield to our more primitive motivations for sticking our neck out onto a moving train, are greater in numbers and with heads firmly planted on our shoulders.
and yeah, way to know which way your train is coming from too. mush for brains.
This is a total tragedy and a loss of a beautiful person. Curious or not, at times we all do things we shouldn't do. One time or another we are always defying death without realizing our actions and the outcome. Jean was a friend of mine. If you had known her, you would be lamenting the loss, too. Some of the comments are cruel, but we know that we live in a cruel world. Let's hope that those who are so eager to judge others by their actions don't have to experience tragedies like this. Let this be a lesson learned for all.
It was always my greatest ambition to go to america.But after reading some of the most horrible & cruel things, that have been said about jeans death,by the uttermost cruel & thick shallow ignorant people, who have no compassion for other peoples life,i have utterly changed my mind.Have you thought how jeans family will think if they read your wicked write ups.I am totally disgusted at the persons who have wrote these things, about one of the most lovelist human beings.All i can say is that,I just hope that none of your family & friends come to this most horrific death.
From all your friends in Egland Nottingham.
God Bless you Jean.
The reporting on the accidental death of my friend jean novak has been inaccurtate. Those that know jean know that she would never EVER be one to be leaning and looking. Jean was terrified of the subway. Period. The sad facts of her demise are a sequence of events that led to her greatest fear. Jean was hit by the train she had just got off. The D train. She was leaving a car in front crossing the platform to the local F. At the velocity of the D train she just got off of she found her blue floppy hat suddenly fly off her. She reacted by saving her hat from flying away at the same time her last train was speeding out the second to last car by her. she reached for her hat...........not a good move but an instant reaction that left her mortally wounded. Rochelle that held her hand had just got off the F train that arrived a minute later. the train Jean should of walked over to catch. Jean sought to catch her hat...i know this because I know Jean and she hated taking subway and yes she made a split second reaction that cost her and all of her friends the loss of her. she was not some dumb one looking if the train is coming. she was one very uncomfortable down there and had she not worn that hat then she would still be the life of the party. FYI: I was with her family and the MTA and the detectives trying to make sense of it all on the platform after her death. The detectives talked about only finding a blue floppy hat on the tracks post accident. This was two days after and as many trains had passed and in true to Jean form, that hat was still on the tracks. my friend died a horrible death for a split second reaction. Her spirit is terrible missed. i see people lean over and look all the time. i know my Jean was never one of them. What happened to her was her biggest fear and i am sad that that was what got her. So the story still is and remains the same stay back when the come and when they go. if things fly out of your control don't react to save it. your loss is not worth it.
i miss you jeanie!!!!
Kaye