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Okay, I watched your video link--ALL OF IT! BooHoo. What exactly happened here? A guy got hit and killed by a train and suddenly it's because he was walking along the tracks. NO! He had in ear buds and was listening to LOUD music. He didn't hear the train whistle. He's dead because he made the choice to walk along the tracks while DEAF!
This is equivalent to walking across a busy street without looking both ways first. Hobo Stobe in my movie was an alcoholic. He drank like a fish while hopping trains. He made that choice. It was HIS decision, and his responsibility. RIP Stobe.
Now what about bike lanes along busy streets in crowded cities where cars are whizzing by you at 30+ MPH and most of them DISTRACTED texting on their smart phones? The ones that are actually paying attention to you, are pi$$ed off because you're slowing them down by even being in the bike lane and the laws says you must be 3-feet away when you pass, so they cut you off or drive carelessly around you.
You can't see the cars coming up behind you, and plenty of bikers also have ear buds in so are DEAF.
What's the bottom line here? It all boils down to is there money being made or lost? Riding trains is FREE and also makes it so you cannot be TRACKED or WATCHED so you are FREE to engage in behaviors you enjoy without being judged.
Bike riding is also free, but you are definitely in public view (and hated by motorists in a hurry) unless you're on a secluded side street where bike lanes belong.
This is my opinion, but the more RESTRICTIVE society gets, the more interested I get in hopping a freight train. I will surely NEVER get into an autonomous car.
A few years ago in Columbia, SC where I lived at the time, four guys hopped a train which was stopped at the time. Their hope was to ride it a mile or two to near where they lived. By the time the train was moving, it was going too fast to hop off where they intended. I believe the train finally stoped near Clinton, SC some 60 miles away. Three of the four were hanging on for dear life for the entire trip. Their buddy fell between the cars about halfway between the two cities. When I saw the story on the news, there were tarps along the tracks covering different parts of his body.
I've never had a romanticized notion of hopping trains even when I was younger. I guess because I have always liked trains I've been aware of their inherent danger. Oh, Doctor Z, you are right and wrng abut the guy wearing ear buds on the railroad tracks. Yes, he was stupid to have them in. But had he not been on railroad tracks, he'd still be walking among us. Probably getting in our way on a sidewalk.
A few years ago in Columbia, SC where I lived at the time, four guys hopped a train which was stopped at the time. Their hope was to ride it a mile or two to near where they lived. By the time the train was moving, it was going too fast to hop off where they intended. I believe the train finally stoped near Clinton, SC some 60 miles away. Three of the four were hanging on for dear life for the entire trip. Their buddy fell between the cars about halfway between the two cities. When I saw the story on the news, there were tarps along the tracks covering different parts of his body.
I've never had a romanticized notion of hopping trains even when I was younger. I guess because I have always liked trains I've been aware of their inherent danger. Oh, Doctor Z, you are right and wrng abut the guy wearing ear buds on the railroad tracks. Yes, he was stupid to have them in. But had he not been on railroad tracks, he'd still be walking among us. Probably getting in our way on a sidewalk.
As with anything, you have to KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING before attempting it. This is especially true if what you are going to do is inherently dangerous.
With that said, people still play with guns knowing little about them, explore caves without knowing what kind of gas may be in them, J-walk across busy streets without looking, and Speed (like me) during major snow storms when roads are very slippery to name a few examples.
Bottom line, I'm NOT the world's Baby-Sitter and I really resent Government and Special Interest Groups trying to FORCE me to be one.
I recently found out about Stobe The Hobo, and I love his videos. I used to hop freight trains in Milwaukee but I rode them around the city and only got on and off when they were going very very slow. That's the key to doing it safely. I had a friend who was more adventurous and would climb to tops of buildings, billboards and would jump from train car to train car while it was moving. That's crazy but I still love trains although I am not a "foamer" but I still love everything about them. Stobe had incredible amounts of knowledge about the in's and outs of trains and train yards and procedures.
Shoestring is another hobo that is pretty popular on the tube.
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