Hotscot

But you came through it?

Sally Redux

Suicide or the UKIP thread?

Hotscot

Are they equivalent?

Sally Redux

Yes

Night

GeoffM

People just seem to use trains in the UK. Oddly not so common in the US, or maybe I don't hear about it. It's something like 3 a week in the London area alone - two in virtually the same place on the same day just this week. The worst off are the poor drivers who can't do anything about it, and I know a couple that have been off for months after having one under. And the people that have to clear up the site afterwards don't come off much better either, having to literally pick up hundreds of bits of body. Then the crews that have to clean the underside of the train where there are all sorts of nooks and crannies to find bits. Ugh.

Of course then some commuters just whine about their train being delayed, even when they know full well what's happened.

SultanOfSwing

In UKIP.

I may have mentioned the m word and I don't think I got away with it.

scrubbedexpat091

I am sure it happens, media tends to not report most suicides so unless you are nearby likely will never hear of it, or they will just report it as an accident or incident.

Bridges are fairly popular though, most major bridges will have a phone to 9-11 and sometimes they even position a police unit at the end of the bridge 24/7.

Beaverstate

Are you saying that the courts have distorted the constitution? I am shocked, just shocked. I wonder what else the founding fathers would find to be severely distorted from the original intent.

GeoffM

I don't rely on the media for that sort of thing though - railroad radio, Metrolink Twitter feeds, that sort of thing are somewhat more reliable and informative. Yet I don't recall more than a couple of incidences in months. Probably because trains are so infrequent and slow!

Bridges, aargh, just a couple of weeks ago I was stopped turning onto a freeway ramp because of traffic but could have nipped back onto the surface streets. Thought I'd have to stick it out being rush hour in that direction so carried on inching forward. An hour later I got to the next junction - again, shall I get off? No, it's only red on the traffic map for another mile, so like a muppet I inched forward for another half a mile. And then sat there for the next four sodding hours while the police talked a jumper off the freeway bridge.

Michael

I don't think that is too common in the UK. In Japan, about 2 per day jump in front of trains and is the highest rate in the world.

In the US, driving a car into a pillar supporting an over pass is suspected as being a frequent cause of suicide. Sometimes it is reported as a suicide and sometimes it is reported as an accident. The biggest clues as to whether it was a suicide or an accident is whether the driver was alone, whether he/she was wearing a seat belt, whether it was a full head on impact, and whether there were braking marks on the road.

GeoffM

I'm speaking from fact, not media. As part of my work I have access to the internal incident dissemination system:

25th Manea
25th Bristol
25th Castle Cary
24th West Drayton
23rd Bridgend (survived impact)
21st Coventry
20th Sudbury
19th Whittlesford Pkwy
18th Manchester
18th Crewkerne
17th Clapham Jn (rescued)
17th Axminster
16th Ufton Nervet (site of crash due to suicide a few years ago)
16th West Norwood
15th Southall
15th Ealing Broadway (suspected murder-suicide, ie 2 people)
14th Woolwich Dockyard

1.21 per day in the last 14 days. Nothing to be proud of, though that is only trains in the southeast and southwest (and issues affecting same), so not Scotland north Wales, central England, East Coast, Great Eastern, Essex, or Anglia (except Manea for some reason). I may also have missed one or two as they don't tend to have keywords like "suicide".

RoadWarriorFromLP

I don't think that the founders would object to guns, per se. The point is that the Second Amendment wasn't addressing that issue, either way.

There were some token efforts to include self-defense and hunting as Second Amendment rights, but those efforts were rejected. We can see from the notes of the House debate that the focus was on the militia.

The conscientious objector language was objectionable because there were concerns that some people would discover religion when it came time to report for duty. There were also concerns that the federal government would prevent the states from using militias as they saw fit. (The subtext for the latter point is that the southern states were afraid that they would not be allowed to use the militias to put down slave rebellions; the language was changed so that the militia would serve the state's interests.)

Michael

I guess the UK needs more guns.

TMR

It's true. Wimbledon / Earlsfield services are forever rerouted due to there being a "person under a train". The robotic, emotionless announcements at the station almost sum up the futility of trying to stop it.

Sally Redux

You can't stop all suicides or murders, but having guns around does make both easier. I believe the suicide rate is higher in UK farming communities with access to shotguns.