In Japan Today, Pic Of Yamanote Line Train After Suicide

[Jcarlton]

The body almost went through the windshield.  I think JR East needs to think about posts and split windshields on the next go around.:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/yamanote-line-accident-horrifies-commuters

Edited January 25, 2013 by Jcarlton

[Densha]

I've seen horrifying pictures of blood on the tracks on Yamanote line stations.

While it may seem a weird thought, jumping in front of an express train has a higher chance of being killed so I don't understand why they keep jumping in front of commuter trains. Either way it's still something that shouldn't be done.

[westfalen]

If you jump near the end of the platform the train is coming from it will have no chance of stopping before it hits you, at the end of the platform a Yamanote train can still be doing 80 kmh from my observations but several hundred tons of steel is likely to kill you at any speed. I'm surprised he was able to jump high and far enough to hit the centre of the windscreen, it must have been an unimaginable shock for the driver and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he never wants to drive a train again but you almost never hear what happens to the driver. IMHO jumping in front of a train is a cowardly way out that ruins the lives of someone you don't even know and as you take away the drivers livelyhood and income from his family.

[bronzeonion]

I doubt it's his/her first one, It happens so often over there.

[cteno4]

i agree it is horrible for the drivers, but unfortunately courage or rational thought has nothing to do with someone at the point of really committing suicide. I have been there with with a friend and they have little or no connection to the real world, rational thought, consequences, etc. depression and pain strips away all this. why and how they try to take their own lives also makes little rational sense.

 

the ny times article recently was well done one on the effects on drivers in nyc. good to see something written from the driver's perspective.

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

From what I have heard in Toronto most subway jumpers don't die, but end up more messed up than they were before the jump.  That came from the crews that go under the train to get them out.

[westfalen]

I doubt it's his/her first one, It happens so often over there.

But they usually go under the train and the driver doesn't see much of the aftermath, hopefully just a quick glimpse before they go under the front of the train because suicides usually jump at the last second. I've never seen one hit like this and the poor driver having a person smash against the windscreen in front of his face is the one in this incident I have the most sympathy for. Sometimes it takes two or three before it finally gets to a driver and he decides to chuck the job in, all the multiple fatality drivers I've spoken to say it doesn't get any easier after the first one. Whatever is going through their minds and I do sympathise with them, stepping in front of a train is not suicide in my definition, it's getting someone else to kill you, someone who has no choice in the matter.

[Sacto1985]

From what I've read, this problem is particularly bad on the Chuō Main Line between Tokyo and Shinjuku Stations.... 

[marknewton]

I've never seen one hit like this and the poor driver having a person smash against the windscreen in front of his face is the one in this incident I have the most sympathy for. 

 

We've had two like this on the Illawarra recently. One bloke took a run up the ramp at Engadine and wound up in the cab, injuring the driver. The other was at Allawah, he apparently jumped from one of the platform seats.

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

I doubt it's his/her first one, It happens so often over there.

Yes, given the large number of trains running through the cities, it is one of easy access.  In the U.S., on the other hand, they use guns.

[bronzeonion]

But they usually go under the train and the driver doesn't see much of the aftermath, hopefully just a quick glimpse before they go under the front of the train because suicides usually jump at the last second. I've never seen one hit like this and the poor driver having a person smash against the windscreen in front of his face is the one in this incident I have the most sympathy for. Sometimes it takes two or three before it finally gets to a driver and he decides to chuck the job in, all the multiple fatality drivers I've spoken to say it doesn't get any easier after the first one. Whatever is going through their minds and I do sympathise with them, stepping in front of a train is not suicide in my definition, it's getting someone else to kill you, someone who has no choice in the matter.

 

That's a fair point

[bronzeonion]

The worst story I heard of a fatality was of a Stansted Airport Express train travelling at 80mph through a station hit a 20 stone man. The impact completely broke the coupler and the rest of him ended up in the cab because those trains have a front gangway for when two units are coupled.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/5765325817/

[railsquid]

From what I've read, this problem is particularly bad on the Chuō Main Line between Tokyo and Shinjuku Stations.... 

 

Musashisakai Station on the Chuo Line has a particularly bad reputation, I've been told, though I guess now the line's been raised it's not so bad (apparently the crossing to the east of the station attracted a lot of jumpers).

[Densha]

The worst story I heard of a fatality was of a Stansted Airport Express train travelling at 80mph through a station hit a 20 stone man. The impact completely broke the coupler and the rest of him ended up in the cab because those trains have a front gangway for when two units are coupled.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/5765325817/

That should have been very awful and terrible for all witnesses.

[E6系]

The suicide rate in Japan is approximately 21 per 100,000.

 

The suicide rate in the USA is approximately 1/2 at 12 per 100,000.  But the population of the USA is over 310m = around 37k suicides. 

 

The population of Japan is 128m.  This means there is about 27k.

 

South Koreans are 50% more likely to commit suicide than Japanese.

 

So, I wonder why westerners are so infatuated about suicide in Japan?

 

Source: World Health Organization.

[marknewton]

So, I wonder why westerners are so infatuated about suicide in Japan?

 

Speaking only for myself, I'm not "infatuated" about suicide in Japan, far from it. My interest in the subject is professional, same as Westfalen's. We both run trains for a living. I've had first-hand experience of suicide by train, so it's a subject I feel qualified to comment on, wherever it happens.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Martijn Meerts]

Another thing is that often those with heavy depression don't know what they're doing. I've been there myself during a particularly bad period (a long time ago). I was on my work to work in the morning, waiting for the train. Next thing I know is an express train blowing it's horn and passing by full speed, and I was just inches away from the platform edge. I have no memory whatsoever how I got so close to the platform edge, there's just a couple of minutes there that are missing entirely.

[E6系]

Yes Mr Marknewton,

 

I understand your position.  My comment was general in nature.  I did not mention trains in my comment.  It is not the most common way to end one's life in Japan.

 

I do not envy any driver, staff, witness or rescue worker involved in a suicide.

[cteno4]

I totally understand mark's frustration with this from the train driver's (and others that have to deal with the incident) perspective that this is totally unfair to them. But it is just not something that you can tell someone in that is in that situation. As Martjin pointed out people at this point of depression are not in this reality at all. Many times they are have been so depressed for so long their neuro transmitter levels are so low they actually become psychotic and are really living in a totally different reality. So its just not something that you can expect there is any way to tell these people not to do this or try to expect them to calculate the effects of their actions on others. just going to be pissing into the wind on that one. Only hope it for someone to reach out to them and get them help before they reach the point of committing suicide.

 

I think if you were ever around someone you cared for that was in this situation you would be able to empathize some and understand there is no rational thought is possible about the points you bring up. Having gone through this a few times with friends (one very recently) it has really really opened my eyes. Scared the hell out of me and pushes you to your own limits to try to figure out how to help them. People see on tv folks acting crazy and having issues, but watching someone you have know for most of your life loose themselves into depression and then into a psychotic break is life jarring. This person was a very caring, sweet, talented and exceptionally intelligent person, so it makes you realize that things can derail even with a lot going for you.

 

E6,

 

i think these threads only pop up here as this is a japanese train forum and these are tragic events on japanese rail so they get discussed like other issues on trains like delays, wrecks, new lines, etc. then add the morbid which always seems to grab the human eye as much as we dont like to want to admit it. might get a bit more play here as we have a few train operators on the list who bring a different perspective to the discussion and generates more and different discussion.

 

One thing that probably heightens this is the media, as the more dramatic and public the form of suicide the more likely it is to be reported and get eyes. this and rail suicide being a very public event make it more likely to pick up press and thus get an uneven treatment and skew popular thoughts on the stats.

 

jeff

[KVH1]

Suicide Club. Checkout the Japanese movie. That's all I'm saying.