Every now and then, when it’s late and I’m bored, if I’m a rare three-track station, I’ll look across the tracks and eye the other platform. The distance always seems short enough to jump, but who would do that? Apparently, a few foolish folks at the 9th Avenue station would. Observe:
The gap, which measures around 10-11 feet, is apparently small enough for a good long jump, but this stunt, as many have pointed out, is beyond dumb. In fact, everyone has banded together to decry this video, amNew York reported today. Wrote Ivan Pereira:
Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, said he has seen hundreds of stories of people playing around in subway stations, but this one was by far the worst. Although both men jumped when there were no trains approaching, there still were big risks, including a 600-volt shock from the tracks, Russianoff said…
Transport Workers Union spokesman Jim Gannon, who called the YouTube jumpers “jackasses,” agreed. “It’s also a terrible thing for train crews to live with if one of the teens falls under the wheels and gets cut to pieces,” he said. The NYPD said it is not investigating the jumpers, but warned that jumping platforms can lead to a citation and, if done repeatedly, a misdemeanor charge.
The MTA, which also criticized the daredevils, said trains have struck 29 people so far this year. The agency said it cannot determine how many of those injuries were related to people playing around on the track. Kevin Ortiz, the agency’s spokesman, said the MTA has been pushing an advertising campaign warning people to be wary of the dangers of subway station. “However, the campaign does not address this type of idiocy,” he said.
The two jumpers actually started on the side with the third rail and jumped away from it, but that’s besides the point. Any number of things could have gone horribly wrong. If these three thrill-seeakers wanted to do something equally off limits but far less dangerous at the 9th Avenue station, they should have just snuck down to the abandoned lower level. Don’t try that at home either.
17 comments
Sorry. Keep on jumping. Let natural selection do its thing. I won’t even mind the train delay.
On occasion , it’s time to thin the herd
sfb: s— for brains.
No risk of an M train, that’s for sure.
Wow, is that ever stupid. One mistep and their chin hits the edge of the platform and god knows what happens.
On a sidenote its kind of creepy to see old HS classmates reporting for newspapers.
Unless you’re a homeless guy living in a station, wouldn’t it be impossible to try exploring the abandoned basement station in your home?
Probably true. Poor use of the phrase.
Well then. At least the MTA, TWU, and Straphangers can agree about something.
I’ve given the tracks a careful look on the GCT end of the shuttle – but more wishing than actually considering
anyone who rides the shuttle knows the feeling of just missing an S on the 4 track and not wanting to loop all the way around track 3
The S may be a little narrower but I’m not interested in being the first suit to get hauled out of the pit
As you note that the guys were jumping away from the third rail, two things come to mind:
1. they didnt seem to be of the mind to give it that much thought – more likely happenstance than diligent evil knievel planning
2. if the miss the jump, they’re most likely going to tumble backwards as they go down into the pit – how far backwards they would roll is tbd, but they could plausibly flail all the way back across for a jolt
even on the landing, the first guy wasnt too far from ending up in the far rails
[…] « Video: A bad idea at an empty station Jun […]
It reminds me of those “don’t surf the train” posters you occasionally see. On first seeing them I thought what kind of suicidal crazy person would ever try that? The poster and this video are proof I guess that there’s always someone.
I’ve actually thought about it (not seriously) when I’ve just missed a train and the grab handles on the slowly-accelerating rear car seem to beckon.
Whoa, that’s 9th Avenue? When did they renovate it?
1 to 2 years and it is still not done.
2009
[…] jumping can be a big stunt. In June, video surfaced in Brooklyn of a pair of track jumpers leaping from one platform to another in an empty station — this week’s Metro Center incident happened in front of hundreds of […]
Haha, stupid jumpers. I think I saw a similar vid filmed in the Moscow subway a while ago.