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Auditioning for a Darwin Award

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  • Auditioning for a Darwin Award

    Went to Columbus this weekend to visit friends. On the way home to North Carolina, I'm driving along a fairly empty section of the Interstate when I see a pickup truck in the northbound lanes . . . driving backwards!

    As I pass in the southbound lanes I see a blue bag of something on the highway. Driver gets out and casually strolls, STROLLS I say, to pick up. Meanwhile a block of north bound traffic is very quickly headed his way, and slamming on the brakes at 70+ MPH as I drive by.

    Instant backup of traffic about a half a mile long.

    Asshole. He's lucky he wasn't hit and killed. Pull over into the median next time, ijit!
    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

  • #2
    You should submit that to the Darwin Awards website.
    cindybubbles (👧 ❤️ 🎂 )

    Enter Cindyland here!

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    • #3
      Speaking of future Darwin Awards nominees, A coworker and I once saw a couple people walking on the railroad tracks behind our train taking pictures. Fortunately, they got back on board our train before the other train pulled in. But really?!
      Question authority, but raise your hand first. -Alan M. Bershowitz

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      • #4
        Speaking of trains, there's a train engineer on another forum I frequent.

        His sig is "I'm tired of killing stupid people just to get home!"
        Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

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        • #5
          Quoth cindybubbles View Post
          You should submit that to the Darwin Awards website.
          He wasn't actually hit, so I don't think he qualifies.

          He does need to add chlorine to his gene pool, though.
          They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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          • #6
            There's currently a bit of a problem with railway-enthusiast photographers adopting unsafe shooting positions when a 'special' goes past:



            That's an open, 60mph main line. The loco they're photographing is stationary - you can see its shadow - but the other line could have a service train approaching at any moment.

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            • #7
              As a railway employee who has had to deal with the aftermath of two incidents in the last three days, luckily no one was killed, but still. Pictures like that piss me off! The first incident I dealt with was a young drunk idiot who decided that sitting beside a live track to throw up was a great idea! The crew saw him and were able to put the train in emergency and just clipped him, ironically being drunk probably saved his life. The second was a 90 year old man driving a van that decided to play "beat the train", he lost.

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              • #8
                As I understand it, the photographer who took that photo has sent a high-resolution version of it to the British Transport Police, who have jurisdiction on railway property. With any luck, words will be had.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                  He wasn't actually hit, so I don't think he qualifies.

                  He does need to add chlorine to his gene pool, though.
                  They do have a 'notable mentions' section though. People who try, but fail to remove themselves from the gene pool.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Chromatix View Post
                    That's an open, 60mph main line. The loco they're photographing is stationary - you can see its shadow - but the other line could have a service train approaching at any moment.
                    When I'm taking train pictures, I try to be cogniscent of the fact that another train could come by at any moment. I like train pictures but I like living more.
                    Last edited by MadMike; 09-30-2014, 01:01 PM. Reason: For the love of God people! Don't quote the entire post, especially if there's a huge-ass image in it!

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                    • #11
                      Another good reason to pay attention when you're taking photos near train tracks: the driver may kick you in the head as the train passes!

                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3f-ZcmZlDk

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                      • #12
                        A few weeks ago Ontario Northland had a similar incident. A wedding party figured a certain trestle would be a dramatic place to take pictures (unlike railfans, wedding parties typically involve clothes/shoes that are NOT suited for running).

                        Needless to say, a train came along. Since it was a tourist train, and that trestle is a good place to take photos FROM THE TRAIN, the train was moving at a crawl. As a result, the gene pool didn't get chlorinated. A photographer on the train caught the wedding part making a run (more like a waddle) for it - and the photo wound up in the local paper. Wedding party got in their limos and left before the police arrived.

                        By the way, that track also carries freight trains. Since cargo isn't interested in taking pictures, freight trains would be going fairly fast when they get to the trestle - and wouldn't be able to stop in time to avoid hitting people on it.
                        Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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