Suicide by train

Status
Not open for further replies.
Soldato
Joined
10 Jul 2008
Posts
7,684
Why is this suicide method used so much? Do you think people just think of others that have done the same and copy blindly? Is it because it's easy to execute? Is it because they think it will get them more attention?

In terms of "ending it quickly", there is a real risk that this doesn't actually occur. In fact, sometimes the worst happens...people survive it, if only for a short time. There are many videos online you could watch showing survivors of some attempts, and in some cases just what is left of them. I've seen one where a person is dragged and rubbed/ragdolled/spun all the way down an underground train station between the train and the platform, and survives it initially. I can't begin to imagine the pain of being ground into the floor/platform by tons of metal.

I guess the thought is that statistically it should be over in an instant but....still....why trains? Why not jump off a building? Take some pills? Slit your wrists, shoot yourself, gas yourself. Nah...I'm gonna jump in front of 100s of tons of metal coz...well...trains are how to do it.
 
Commissario
Joined
16 Oct 2002
Posts
2,648
Location
In the radio shack
I can’t answer your question but here’s an interesting thing.

I used to work in a building that overlooks a train station, one where fast trains often go through at great speed. I was there for fifteen years and I think there were suicides there on average two or three times a year.

Access to the platforms were open, you didn’t have to go through any ticket checks or barriers.

When the station was refurbished and barriers erected, the suicide rate dropped to zero. Literally zero overnight. There were no more cases of people throwing themselves in front of trains.

The conclusion: people weren’t prepared to pay to be able to kill themselves. I don’t know why that would be, you’d think that if someone wanted to top themselves, buying a platform ticket wouldn’t stop them but it did.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,898
I guess the thought is that statistically it should be over in an instant but....still....why trains? Why not jump off a building? Take some pills? Slit your wrists, shoot yourself, gas yourself. Nah...I'm gonna jump in front of 100s of tons of metal coz...well...trains are how to do it.

Those don’t necessarily work well either tbh... Jumping off a building can be a painful death if not tall enough, shooting yourself can be too - can end up giving yourself a lobotomy. Pills can be ineffective - people try things like sleeping pills and paracetamol but then end up waking up, regretting it and in hospital with nothing that can be done as they’ve now had liver failure and can look forward to a drawn out and quite nasty death over days etc...
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,806
Maybe it is a harder one to chicken out of and probably easier than intentionally inflicting a fatal wound on yourself.

Former work colleague of mine supposedly hung himself from a tree back in June on a popular footpath :( other than he committed suicide and that is where it happened I don't know further details for certain. I'm not really sure why someone would choose jumping infront of a train over hanging themselves.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Aug 2005
Posts
22,947
Location
Glasgow
High rate of "success", happens quickly and all you have to do is take a couple of steps forward rather than perform any specific action yourself. People know that a train won't be able to stop quickly so the chances of it not working are low.

You do get some who survive and end up extremely badly injured as a result, limb amputation will often end up occurring during the strike. It's far, far more likely that the person will due instantly though.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jul 2005
Posts
1,557
Location
New York
I do think there is an element of copying, I remember a few years ago the coq du argent seemed to be a place to go for suicidal city workers. Theres lots of tall buildings and roof terraces around but quite a few seemed to pick this one.

For trains could also be an element of convenience that allows for a somewhat spontaneous suicide as its somewhere you were going anyway
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Mar 2008
Posts
32,741
I can’t answer your question but here’s an interesting thing.

I used to work in a building that overlooks a train station, one where fast trains often go through at great speed. I was there for fifteen years and I think there were suicides there on average two or three times a year.

Access to the platforms were open, you didn’t have to go through any ticket checks or barriers.

When the station was refurbished and barriers erected, the suicide rate dropped to zero. Literally zero overnight. There were no more cases of people throwing themselves in front of trains.

The conclusion: people weren’t prepared to pay to be able to kill themselves. I don’t know why that would be, you’d think that if someone wanted to top themselves, buying a platform ticket wouldn’t stop them but it did.

Well that's easy.

It gave them a chance to think, it's always about giving a little room to maneuver away from an absolute.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2009
Posts
8,577
Location
Luton, England
I guess the thought is that statistically it should be over in an instant but....still....why trains? Why not jump off a building? Take some pills? Slit your wrists, shoot yourself, gas yourself. Nah...I'm gonna jump in front of 100s of tons of metal coz...well...trains are how to do it.

You answered your own question, so why are you confused?

A train is a spur of the moment, jump in front and it’s done instantly. Jumping from a building isn’t instant, you’re falling through the air for a while before you hit the floor, same with pills, slitting your wrists or gassing yourself. A gun (unless you have one) takes planning to get, you can’t do it in a knee jerk fashion it has to be premeditated, but for those who have guns already, it’s another popular method of doing so.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Mar 2012
Posts
6,558
TBH I think we'd need super human powers of empathy to understand the thought process at that point.

I've suffered from depression and I know full well that in my darkest days what I thought aren't those of a totally rational person.

I never considered suicide, never for a moment, but got to the point of complete apathy as to whether I woke up again.

Looking back it's like trying to understand s different person.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2009
Posts
8,577
Location
Luton, England
Well that's easy.

It gave them a chance to think, it's always about giving a little room to maneuver away from an absolute.

Exactly, being able to just jump in front of a train is easy, and can just be done without any thought, when you have to plan out what you’re going to do, a lot of people back out.
Instantly by adding a barrier in front of tracks, you remove that ability for someone to jump with no thought behind it, and only the few people who have gone that far down the rabbit hole would continue to do so when they have to formulate a plan to be able to do it.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2012
Posts
17,493
Location
Gloucestershire
What kind of person watches 'many videos online' of people throwing themselves in front of trains?

A Psychopath, is the obvious answer. Are you a legit psychopath, OP? Serious question (supposedly 1 or 2% of us are psychopaths).
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Feb 2007
Posts
8,518
Definitely not my preferred method. Firearm to the temple works for me.

Careful doing that, you can quite easily miss vitals and just sever the optic nerve, leaving you blind and depressed rather than just depressed. I would aim from a reasonably high point on the forehead with a slight downward deflection, that way you destroy the largest amount of brain tissue.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,590
Location
Nottingham
I guess the thought is that statistically it should be over in an instant but....still....why trains? Why not jump off a building? Take some pills? Slit your wrists, shoot yourself, gas yourself. Nah...I'm gonna jump in front of 100s of tons of metal coz...well...trains are how to do it.
Jumping requires sorting access to a high enough building and pre-planning to actually do it, pills are a very poor choice as they have a high failure rate and can cause long term damage, wrists is slow and painful and i would imagine most people wanting to end it aren't keen to drag it out. Most people also dont have access to firearms or know how to get access in the UK and again gassing.. most people will do a poor job and fail. Stepping in front of a train is quite finate, easy access and generally very effective. Its reasonable to say that most suicides by train are based on spare of the moment decisions of a very mentally unstable person.

A year or so ago a woman in Notts stepped at a train crossing i pass on my way home. She placed her kid in a buggy to one side of the barriers and then hopped in front of a train doing about 50 and that was it. When i was going past the scene 2 hours later on ny way home they were clearing the scene of her and her belongings.
 

VoG

VoG

Soldato
Joined
20 Jan 2004
Posts
5,869
Location
Nottingham
Definitely not my preferred method. Firearm to the temple works for me.

Actually that doesn't all ways work, the actor Daniel von Bargen survived a suicide attempt on the 20th Feb 2012 when he shot himself in the temple with a .38 caliber hand gun, and not only did he survive it was him who called the emergency services to tell them he'd tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head, he died 3 years later of complications from diabetes which he'd been suffering from for years.
 
Caporegime
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
52,091
Location
Welling, London
Actually that doesn't all ways work, the actor Daniel von Bargen survived a suicide attempt on the 20th Feb 2012 when he shot himself in the temple with a .38 caliber hand gun, and not only did he survive it was him who called the emergency services to tell them he'd tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head, he died 3 years later of complications from diabetes which he'd been suffering from for years.
Never knew that. I used to find him quite funny as Spangler on Malcolm in the Middle.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom