TTC jumpers

[pete_rfd]

So today apparently someone jumped at Old Mill station. I did a search and can't find much in the news about people jumping the tracks. I hear it happens quite often, but I assume news organizations don't report on it so they don't give people ideas?

It took me 2hrs to get downtown, but what really annoyed me was when I talked with a train operator about the delays, and he says "It's takes one idiot to screw everything up." ... Wow!

[Blockwork]

So today apparently someone jumped at Old Mill station. I did a search and can't find much in the news about people jumping the tracks. I hear it happens quite often, but I assume news organizations don't report on it so they don't give people ideas?

It took me 2hrs to get downtown, but what really annoyed me was when I talked with a train operator about the delays, and he says "It's takes one idiot to screw everything up." ... Wow!

dude is an idiot for commiting suicide
and yea i heard it happens few times a year

a lot happens that you dont see on the news.. 5 million different lives in the GTA, not everything gets reported..

[Swswswish]

If you're gonna kill yourself at least have the common decency not to make the average joe late for work, amirite?

[DeathRazR]

what if this happened?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8oJDVfvTM

kid was real lucky the glass absorbed all the impact, you can see him laughing at the end too

[Powder + park raider]

what if this happened?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8oJDVfvTM

kid was real lucky the glass absorbed all the impact, you can see him laughing at the end too

idiot being a dumb. ***** , zero sympathy


says "It's takes one idiot to screw everything up." ... Wow!

wow what? why does that annoy you?

[RolandCouch]

dude is an idiot for commiting suicide
and yea i heard it happens few times a year

a lot happens that you dont see on the news.. 5 million different lives in the GTA, not everything gets reported..

LOL @ a few. Not making fun of you because most people would think that's right, but it's a lot more than a few.

[sandikosh]

Rather than committing suicide on the rails and disturbing transit for the thousands, why don't they jump from the Danforth bridge looking over the Don Valley?

[cheapmeister]

They should just OD on sleeping pills, cause its much cleaner and has no pain.

[BornRuff]

Rather than committing suicide on the rails and disturbing transit for the thousands, why don't they jump from the Danforth bridge looking over the Don Valley?

They made that a bit tricky nowadays.

http://retardzone.com/uploads/2008/08/places/veil.jpg

[RolandCouch]

They made that a bit tricky nowadays.

http://retardzone.com/uploads/2008/08/places/veil.jpg

Still happens tho!

[D-Roc]

Still happens tho!

Not from that bridge though. From the one south of it.

[Xeros]

dude is an idiot for commiting suicide
and yea i heard it happens few times a year

a lot happens that you dont see on the news.. 5 million different lives in the GTA, not everything gets reported..

Subway jumpers happen fairly frequently, one jumper every 1-2 weeks. My friend worked at the Ontario Coroners office and said the bodies came in at that interval. They don't report subway jumpers ever because reporting it, the thought is that it would encourage people with suicidal thoughts that this is an effective and viable method to kill themselves.

I was on a train that hit a jumper... man was that ever inconvenient.

[Xeros]

They should just OD on sleeping pills, cause its much cleaner and has no pain.

It's not as easy as you think to OD on pills... plus, if they manage to revive you in time, you could come back as a near vegetable.

[cwb27]

Subway jumpers happen fairly frequently, one jumper every 1-2 weeks. My friend worked at the Ontario Coroners office and said the bodies came in at that interval. They don't report subway jumpers ever because reporting it, the thought is that it would encourage people with suicidal thoughts that this is an effective and viable method to kill themselves.

I was on a train that hit a jumper... man was that ever inconvenient.

There's bit a spat of it lately.. I think 3 in the last 5 weeks? I would disagree with the idea of it being every 1-2 weeks, I know over the winter the TTC went for a couple months without one.

Anytime you see the TTC saying "injured customer at track level" it's someone that has been struck by a train at track level. I'm not going to say "jumpers" because accidents do happen and people do fall. The TTC never outright says "someone committed suicide by jumping infront of a train" when speaking to the media about delays.

[Kunman]

why don't ttc do it like taiwan? or hk....there is a door between the rail and the station...door only opens when the adjacent train door opens. and everything else is fenched off

[RolandCouch]

why don't ttc do it like taiwan? or hk....there is a door between the rail and the station...door only opens when the adjacent train door opens. and everything else is fenched off

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Kunman]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

but for every jumper how much money does the society loose in total! in a years total, i bet much more than the doors :/

[cwb27]

why don't ttc do it like taiwan? or hk....there is a door between the rail and the station...door only opens when the adjacent train door opens. and everything else is fenched off

Because you can't just send down a couple guys with a welder, some glass and steel and say "build me some doors on this platform".

In order to have platform screen doors there is SIGNIFICANT infrastructure that has to be built, including train automation (which includes a new signalling system). The TTC is in the process of upgrading the signalling system on the YUS which is in preparation for Automatic Train Operation (ATO), once ATO is in place decisions about platform doors can actually mode ahead.

So, if you look 5-8 years into the future, they may be there.

[flashy_mcflash]

but for every jumper how much money does the society loose in total! in a years total, i bet much more than the doors :/

I'll have to find the source, but one estimate I read said $10M per station to install that sort of infrastructure. No way does a jumper 'cost society' that much.

[Aznsilvrboy]

I'll have to find the source, but one estimate I read said $10M per station to install that sort of infrastructure. No way does a jumper 'cost society' that much.

A life is priceless? :razz:

[RolandCouch]

I'll have to find the source, but one estimate I read said $10M per station to install that sort of infrastructure. No way does a jumper 'cost society' that much.

Better off spending 10M and making virtually painless suicide booths (ala futurama)

[Powder + park raider]

government should set up operations in hospitals where people who want suicide can come in, donate their organs, then die.

[at1212b]

So today apparently someone jumped at Old Mill station. I did a search and can't find much in the news about people jumping the tracks. I hear it happens quite often, but I assume news organizations don't report on it so they don't give people ideas?

It took me 2hrs to get downtown, but what really annoyed me was when I talked with a train operator about the delays, and he says "It's takes one idiot to screw everything up." ... Wow!

There are several articles that have been written over the years.

The stat about an attempt/suicide 1-2 weeks is pretty close. I worked with an TTC guy younger in my part-time days who was a driver in the 80's told me too. This was when it was even less known before so when he told me back in the late 90's, it was a shocking thing to hear. Especially with less coverage about it back then before the internet took over.

TTC released stats on Jumper's statistics:
================================================== ================
http://www.blogto.com/upload/2009/11/20091126-sucidestats.jpg
================================================== ================
Source: http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/11/ttc_releases_suicide_statistics/


Here is a really good, but fairly long article from Toronto Life published back in 2010.



Priority One: suicides on the subway tracks—how many, how often and how to stop them

In the first five months of this year, 17 people jumped into the path of oncoming subway trains. A scheme to outfit stations with safety barriers is low on the TTC’s to-do list, leaving us with the ugly problem of how to stop suicides now By Rachel Giese


After his train ran over David Dewees, Kevin Pett took six months’ leave and underwent therapy. “A lot of drivers get angry after they’ve had a suicide,” he says. “I just shut down” On Saturday October 3, 2009, at about eight... cont'd

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/from-print-edition-informer/2010/08/10/priority-one-suicides-on-the-subway-tracks%E2%80%94how-many-how-often-and-how-to-stop-them/

[al3x89]

It's not as easy as you think to OD on pills... plus, if they manage to revive you in time, you could come back as a near vegetable.

some people are really stupid. i work in the ER and seen everything. some overdoses give you a buzz and make you high, some actually need immediate attention. you can be saved and you can function properly, but you will be seeing a psychiatrist for a very very long time.

[BornRuff]

but for every jumper how much money does the society loose in total! in a years total, i bet much more than the doors :/

The doors would make a lot more sense if stations got so crowded that people were at risk of falling onto the tracks by accident.

The fact is that we walk right next to fast moving vehicles every day when we walk down the street and we don't demand barriers next to every side walk.

[slowtyper]

I"m much too lazy to do this on my own and hope someone else knows. Just wondering if subway jumper is one of the more "popular" methods of suicide? And finally my real question, if comparing suicide method stats in two cities, one with a major subway and one without. How do they differ? Besides subway jumping, are the rest of the methods all used proportionally more, or is there a specific method that is chosen by the "would-be-subway-jumpers..if we had a subway" percent.

make sense? This is something I've always wondered.

[transitguy1]

government should set up operations in hospitals where people who want suicide can come in, donate their organs, then die.

Agree with the assisted suicide thing, but lets say no to the organs.....God knows what the organs may have been subjected to....

But the idea is good one

[MissMalfoy]

I was in the first car of a train that hit a jumper and saw the man jump. I couldn't take the train for almost six months after that, which was REALLY inconvenient because I lived in North-east Scarborough and go to school downtown. Nevermind the inconvenience of delaying transit for an hour or so, think about the psychological trauma of people involved (drivers, witnesses, the person's family, etc).

[ToniCipriani]

The doors would make a lot more sense if stations got so crowded that people were at risk of falling onto the tracks by accident.

Then you haven't been to the Bloor-Danforth platform of Yonge-Bloor... stand one person there and there's literally no space for another to pass.

[l33r]

Still happens tho!

Really? Wonder how they manage that! At least according to Wiki "the Luminous Veil appears to have had the intended effect of preventing suicides on the Prince Edward Viaduct"

Before they put the barrier up (waste of money, seeing as the number of suicides stay the same - hell; there's another bridge a block west) I was scared to walk across the suicide bridge. A good gust of wind felt like it could throw you over :/

[goob3r]

There was a track level injury on Monday during the lunch hours too, also on the Bloor Danforth line.

[Anonymouse]

I'll have to find the source, but one estimate I read said $10M per station to install that sort of infrastructure. No way does a jumper 'cost society' that much.

It does not cost even close to $10m per station. It's about $50k per doorset, plus whatever you have to pay Thales to connect them to the ATC system.

[tsat]

There's bit a spat of it lately.. I think 3 in the last 5 weeks? I would disagree with the idea of it being every 1-2 weeks, I know over the winter the TTC went for a couple months without one.

Anytime you see the TTC saying "injured customer at track level" it's someone that has been struck by a train at track level. I'm not going to say "jumpers" because accidents do happen and people do fall. The TTC never outright says "someone committed suicide by jumping infront of a train" when speaking to the media about delays.

it comes in spurts... Around your holidays that typically celebrate being together or family (i.e. xmas and vday) tend to push people over the edge that were already close to it. than the odd jumpers here and there every couple weeks.

As mentioned there's reasons that they don't report it... But overall it averages out to 1 every a couple days.

[RolandCouch]

I"m much too lazy to do this on my own and hope someone else knows. Just wondering if subway jumper is one of the more "popular" methods of suicide? And finally my real question, if comparing suicide method stats in two cities, one with a major subway and one without. How do they differ? Besides subway jumping, are the rest of the methods all used proportionally more, or is there a specific method that is chosen by the "would-be-subway-jumpers..if we had a subway" percent.

make sense? This is something I've always wondered.

No it is definitely not one of the more common ways to go in Toronto. See hanging, OD, etc.

[RolandCouch]

Really? Wonder how they manage that! At least according to Wiki "the Luminous Veil appears to have had the intended effect of preventing suicides on the Prince Edward Viaduct"

Before they put the barrier up (waste of money, seeing as the number of suicides stay the same - hell; there's another bridge a block west) I was scared to walk across the suicide bridge. A good gust of wind felt like it could throw you over :/

I guess it was not obvious but I didn't mean at that exact bridge, just that the jumpers will go elsewhere - plenty of other jumping locations nearby and it still happens a lot just doesn't make the news.

[BornRuff]

Then you haven't been to the Bloor-Danforth platform of Yonge-Bloor... stand one person there and there's literally no space for another to pass.

Certainly busy, but it hasn't gotten to the point of people falling onto the track with any frequency. Not discounting the fact that Bloor/Yonge station is drastically over capacity, there isn't really an issue of safety on the platforms.

[Powder + park raider]

Agree with the assisted suicide thing, but lets say no to the organs.....God knows what the organs may have been subjected to....

But the idea is good one

obviously test the organs first. also drain their blood and give to red cross.

[Tomato_1]

I"m much too lazy to do this on my own and hope someone else knows. Just wondering if subway jumper is one of the more "popular" methods of suicide? And finally my real question, if comparing suicide method stats in two cities, one with a major subway and one without. How do they differ? Besides subway jumping, are the rest of the methods all used proportionally more, or is there a specific method that is chosen by the "would-be-subway-jumpers..if we had a subway" percent.

make sense? This is something I've always wondered.

Probably not. Believe it or not, over 50% of gun fatalities (don't have the stat handy but it is could even be high at 70%) is via suicides.

[RolandCouch]

Probably not. Believe it or not, over 50% of gun fatalities (don't have the stat handy but it is could even be high at 70%) is via suicides.

Between 1987 and 1996, 79% of all firearm-related deaths were suicides. During this period, approximately 28% of all suicides involved firearms, or an average of 1,030 firearm suicides per year. (Canada)

[gamecube117]

dude is an idiot for commiting suicide
and yea i heard it happens few times a year

a lot happens that you dont see on the news.. 5 million different lives in the GTA, not everything gets reported..

Few? Try a week. This subway driver was saying how people commit suicide at least once a week, the only reason why it's not being reported is, well, it's kind of obvious.

[cheapmeister]

What about other ways peeps are committing suicide in the GTA? How many total suicides a week/month do you think occur?