As California’s homeless people
camp out on railroad tracks,
train-related deaths are rising
Los Angeles Times,
by
Rachel Scheier
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
1/27/2020 1:54:53 PM
Berkeley—Just after 8 on a warm evening in September, Janae Bell was shooting the breeze with two friends at the Hearst Avenue railroad crossing, sharing some pastries and talking bikes. Over the clanging bells of a Union Pacific freight train rumbling past on the opposite track, they didn’t hear the Amtrak barreling toward them. With seconds to spare, Bell, 41, looked up, screamed “Train!” and dove off the tracks. But when he turned to look for his friends, he said, “They were gone.”(Snip) California’s railroad tracks are now lined with men and women sleeping in tents or under cardboard boxes,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bamboozle 1/27/2020 2:03:53 PM (No. 299647)
Ignorance is fixable, stupid unfortunately is forever
13 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/27/2020 2:04:28 PM (No. 299648)
There always have been and will always be counterculture people who, for their own reasons, defy reason and the law and “do their own thing”. They tempt fate. I read this and thought, more Darwin at work. We are not responsible for these fools, nor is this a public health crisis. It is a law enforcement crisis that keeps LE from keeping the tracks lear.
13 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Kate318 1/27/2020 2:18:05 PM (No. 299660)
Sorry, but who shares pastries at a railroad crossing??
21 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Rubinski 1/27/2020 2:21:51 PM (No. 299667)
Don’t sit around on the railroad tracks. Most of us learned that rule when in grade school when we were taught to look both ways before crossing the street.
21 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Jeremiah29_11 1/27/2020 2:31:45 PM (No. 299679)
This is just a simple example of civilization advancing by natural selection...or in this case, eradification by stupefaction.
13 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Tennman 1/27/2020 2:36:15 PM (No. 299682)
Darwin Award Finalist - Group category. It rarely ends well for people on railroad tracks when the trin arrives.
10 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 1/27/2020 2:47:30 PM (No. 299695)
I've watched trains for years, but would never, ever consider sitting on the tracks. That has to be one of the dumbest things a person can do.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 1/27/2020 2:53:18 PM (No. 299696)
And as the homeless continue to sleep anywhere they can, Bloomers is blowing his millions on worthless anti-Trump political ads. Wealth blinds the leftist mind bigly.
12 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Clinger 1/27/2020 2:58:15 PM (No. 299702)
So basically homelessness correlates to brainlessness?
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
hershey 1/27/2020 3:07:42 PM (No. 299712)
It takes a pretty much stupid person to camp out on railroad tracks...I mean, it's gotta be tough finding a comfortable spot on the steel rails....and building a cardboard house or pitching a tent??? Come on folks....
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 1/27/2020 3:10:49 PM (No. 299714)
Interesting comments. It looks like Californians are finally getting tired of the homeless situation.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 1/27/2020 3:25:24 PM (No. 299728)
What we need are high speed trains going over 200 MPH, yes that will solve this "problem".
8 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Venturer 1/27/2020 3:50:26 PM (No. 299746)
Put your penny on the track and walk away for a distance. Don't stand there to see what happens.
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 1/27/2020 4:07:52 PM (No. 299754)
Maybe mounting a cowcatcher on the front of the train will help.
10 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 1/27/2020 4:16:14 PM (No. 299760)
The Democrats are trying to figure out how they can create a new massive government program, that will need thousands of new public employees who will administer the benefits to these homeless people.
And, at the same time there is a ranch just south of SF area, near Livermore, that is 85 square miles that the governor is ready to use $222 million taxpayer dollars to take this land off the books of available land, thus, driving up the costs of the rest of the land.
Yet, there it is, thousands of acres of usable land, that has been in the same family for 3 generations, so it's not infringing on anyone else. It could quickly be transformed into a huge community for the current homeless population around the state - if they desired. Heck, manufactured homes could be used immediately to house many of them likely by the end of this year.
Clinics could be set up nearby to ensure they all have access to heathcare.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
kewmac 1/27/2020 4:27:44 PM (No. 299773)
“Those tracks were kind of like our sidewalk. If you live out here every day, all day, you get used to living on them" If you decide train tracks are your sidewalk don't be surprised when you get hit by a train. There are a couple of pictures of the destitute impoverished homeless folks and none of them look underfed......
8 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
ladydawgfan 1/27/2020 4:39:13 PM (No. 299782)
My eldest brother was a train engineer for more than 30 years before recently retiring. He said his greatest fear was hitting either a human or a stupid driver on the tracks. Trains don't stop on a dime and fully loaded trains can take up to a mile to come to a complete stop.
These people can ignore the danger to their own lives when it comes to living on the tracks, but they DON'T have the right to play with the lives and futures of railroad personnel!!
8 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
qr4j 1/27/2020 4:47:35 PM (No. 299794)
Homelessness is not an easy problem to solve. Neither is mental illness. But I really do not get hanging out on railroad tracks, let alone sleeping on them. This is a weird story.
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Historybuff 1/27/2020 4:52:08 PM (No. 299800)
Yeah, it's hard to get a train to swerve.
7 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
bad-hair 1/27/2020 5:35:46 PM (No. 299820)
Excerpt from " My Cousin Vinnie".
I thought you said that it was unusual for that train to come through town at 5:30 in the morning !!!
Yep … it usually comes through at 4:30 in the morning.
Sleep on tracks … don't wake up.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
padiva 1/27/2020 8:55:32 PM (No. 299933)
#14 and they can create gardens and grow their own food.
Think of it as a commune. Will the people choose a type of government structure like capitalism or the Mayflower Compact?
0 people like this.
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If only we'd give Marxists complete control, social problems would cease to exist.