No easy fix to collisions between trains, people seeking to end lives
From
Suicide is hardly unique to
In 2016, the year before
"It's still a tiny proportion of suicides nationally," said
Intentional drug overdoses and guns remain far more common methods of suicide. But like other experts, Barber frets that media coverage of train-related suicides exacerbates the problem -- particularly given the lethal effectiveness of locomotives.
For vulnerable people considering hurting themselves, news reports serve not as a warning but as an invitation, Barber said. Dozens of research studies have established links between media coverage of suicides and the likelihood of suicide by vulnerable people.
"Publicity can only create harm," Barber said.
That conventional wisdom leaves both suicide experts and rail operators reluctant to publicly address suicide. Caltrain, a commuter service that connects
"Rail agencies across the country struggle with this issue," said
That changed in 2009, when several high school students from
"It became a copycat situation," Bartholomew said. "It became a situation where we couldn't not talk about it any more."
Caltrain's anti-suicide efforts have included launching a hotline for suicidal people to call or text for help. The rail service also became active in suicide-prevention organizations.
Caltrain taught its transit police to deal with suicidal people, and officers stopped 40 people from killing themselves in 2017, Bartholomew said. In a separate attempt to end suicides, the city of
Alas, people continue to kill themselves on the Caltrain tracks. There were four suicides in 2017 and two more in the first half of 2018, with several other possible suicides awaiting final rulings from medical examiners, Bartholomew said.
"Even with all of our efforts, it's always going to be a problem we're going to have to try and address," Bartholomew said.
Like
Given the logistical challenges of blocking access to the tracks, Harvard's Barber said it's unclear whether suicide hotlines or suicide-prevention signs achieve their goal.
"I don't know that there are specific steps that don't perversely draw attention to trains as a method of suicide," Barber said.
In
In April,
On
About 10 days before his death, police said, Bailey told a friend, "I'm going to end it -- I'm going to jump in front of a train."
And
The medical examiner's office ruled accidental another pedestrian death, one where witnesses told police the victim stood on the tracks and refused to get out of the way of a
After
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All Aboard Florida, which operates
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