You can not make this up. Blumenthal get your own house in order !
http://wtnh.com/2014/04/18/video-close-call-sen-blumenthal-metro-north-presser/
If I may quote that great philosopher, Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
The comments that are found beneath the video say it all: the senator and the people with him ignored the signs that warn people away from the yellow band. Did they think that the warning did not apply to them?
Johnny
Will not happen but: ---------- If Senator would admit his mistake and tell people they need to be careful around places where trains move then maybe the long term result would be very educational ? Will the video go viral ? Senator should make some aide take an unpaid leave ?
I am surprised that an express train passing a platform where people re standing too close, didn't blow a horn or ring a bell.
Damn. Darwin denied.
Now now, be nice.
We don't want anyone killed here. Having the living $#!& scared out of them, that's another matter. But killed, no.
MidlandMike I am surprised that an express train passing a platform where people re standing too close, didn't blow a horn or ring a bell.
You raise at least one good point: who set this thing up to begin with? Any real railroaders present? Like a trainmaster or superintendent or railroad police? Somebody beyond the Senator was as fault.
And as for a warning from the train...I believe they do give a warning when entering a station at speed. But that appears to be way down the platform which could mean it was given at least a quarter mile away and could not be heard by the events at the other end. Plus there were ambient noises of traffic and the common sound of a train blowing its horn. Er, did anybody tell the train crew to watch out for a non passenger event and crowd at the station? Or were they and were told not to blow the horn? We know the general intelligence of our politicos but still, they probably shouldn't take all the blame for this one.
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Both Amtrak and Metro-North have bell and speaker systems for announcing an approaching train - including trains that aren't scheduled to stop.
If Senators were not exempt from Darwin's Law, they couldn't muster a quorum.
To publicize some engineeering tech, I was asked by our in-house photographer to pose standing on the WSOR track to give the tie in to railroad technology.
My response was, "Um, I don't think this gives the right message."
Technically speaking, the WSOR trains are not that fast, the crossings are protected by bells and gates, and the train crews sound their horn. Before someone starts up on this, I could have been photographed safely standing on the tracks, although to do that, there probably should have been a lookout in addition to me and the photographer, who were focused (excuse the pun) on getting a good photo.
But . . .
In addtion to being a research engineer and a train enthusiast, as a passenger train advocate I had been afforded to attend a train-riding session organized by UP and Metra through some advocacy connections, where we had "break out sessions" in discussing what Metra does to keep people like me from doing what the photographer wanted to do. Things like writing tickets for substantial fines.
So . . .
Even if we took that picture and got away with it without getting a scolding, a warning, or a ticket and a fine, my thinking was to put such a picture in the College of Engineering Annual Report was setting a very bad example, and especially teachers have a moral, ethical, social, and professional reason not do to something illegal (i.e. trespass on WSOR property, even if it is only to stand briefly in a railroad crossing) that we are going photograph and disseminate copies.
Therefore . . .
The Senator for Connecticut has some 'splainin' to do . . .
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul Milenkovic To publicize some engineeering tech, I was asked by our in-house photographer to pose standing on the WSOR track to give the tie in to railroad technology. My response was, "Um, I don't think this gives the right message." Technically speaking, the WSOR trains are not that fast, the crossings are protected by bells and gates, and the train crews sound their horn. Before someone starts up on this, I could have been photographed safely standing on the tracks, although to do that, there probably should have been a lookout in addition to me and the photographer, who were focused (excuse the pun) on getting a good photo. But . . . In addtion to being a research engineer and a train enthusiast, as a passenger train advocate I had been afforded to attend a train-riding session organized by UP and Metra through some advocacy connections, where we had "break out sessions" in discussing what Metra does to keep people like me from doing what the photographer wanted to do. Things like writing tickets for substantial fines. So . . . Even if we took that picture and got away with it without getting a scolding, a warning, or a ticket and a fine, my thinking was to put such a picture in the College of Engineering Annual Report was setting a very bad example, and especially teachers have a moral, ethical, social, and professional reason not do to something illegal (i.e. trespass on WSOR property, even if it is only to stand briefly in a railroad crossing) that we are going photograph and disseminate copies. Therefore . . . The Senator for Connecticut has some 'splainin' to do . . .
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm In conclusion, although the photo op set up was wrong, the Senator was NOT standing on the track, only part way on the very wide yellow warning area, which appears (but I have not measured) to be wider than the ones on Metra, which follows the ADA standard of two feet.
What is this treating me as person of diminished intellectual capacity with the capitalized "NOT"? So, he wasn't standing on a track of a low-speed freight line to which the public has access through gate and warning signal-controlled crossings (which I politely refused to do), he was at a high-level platform on a high-speed electrified passenger line, standing on the edge of that platform where one wrong step and he would be face-down on the tracks, with his back to a train that passed him within inches?
I am fine with the good Senator representing whatever political party he represents, the State that he represents, and for advocating for trains in the manner that he does. I am told by the parent post that he was shooting a video to advocate for train safety, that people treat trains with respect.
If you are to treat trains with respect, a passenger train platform is a place where a person needs to maintain awareness of their surroundings, and for goodness sake stand back from the edge of the platform, yellow line or no yellow line, NEC, ADA, or Metra thickness or whatever thickness. Also, when you are a public figure sending your likeness out to a public forum, whether a research engineer at a public university or a United States Senator, you have a moral, legal, social, and ethical responsibility to set a good example.
And don't start scolding me as if there is the least bit of difference between the two situations. I refused to do something a photographer asked me to because I have benefited from the Operation Lifesaver discussions, both to the general public and in a special meeting for passenger train advocates. If the Senator was shooting an Operation Lifesaver video or related safety video, why wasn't he party to discussions about safety on a high-level high-speed train platform?
My goodness, you must be thin-skinned to assume you are being talked down to or scolded! Not enough Easter candy?
schlimm My goodness, you must be thin-skinned to assume you are being talked down to or scolded! Not enough Easter candy?
Thin skinned goes in both directions.
Furthermore, I spoke to my state of mind, that I post under my name and who I am is widely known to people, and I was expressing that I felt patronized by the capitalized "NOT" when I was being contradicted regarding the seriousness of the situation shown in the video.
Your response (with an exclamation mark added) is not speaking to your state of mind, it is further commentary on your part on what you believe to be my state of mind, making the claim that my response displays the level of immaturity and lack of impulse control of a young child denied holiday treats.
Again, a United States Senator came "this close" to losing his life or being severely injured on account of not taking reasonable precautions on a high-level passenger train platform of a high-speed line. This could be an Operation Lifesaver-style teaching moment, not only to educate the public but to educate ourselves in the enthusiast and advocacy community.
But that message is being diluted, on the NBC Nightly News where the video was presented without interviewing an Operation Lifesaver volunteer or a railroad official regarding safe conduct by passengers on platforms. That message is being diluted by someone posting on this forum that what the Senator did was not that big a deal, and you bet I am thin skinned about something like that.
I offered the comparison to my own personal situation in a photo op for a similar purpose, where I would have followed the photographer's suggestion and stood on the railroad tracks, were it not for the information disseminated by Operation Lifesaver, both in their literature tables at public events and in my "inner circle" meeting among train advocacy people. Given the circumstances of where this photo was to take place, this photo could have been taken with much lower risk than what the Senator exposed himself to, but the publication of that photo by a major public university would have been harmful to the cause of railroad safety.
But I receive the impression that my comparison of what I was doing (or not doing) with what the Senator was doing (or not doing) did not merit presentation on this forum without a person posting a response contradicting what I said. You see, he wasn't standing on the tracks as I was asked to do. These tracks, by the way, are in a pit in relation to a high-level platform, on Metro North, which is an electrified line, which may even be in their 3rd rail territory.
I am told that what the Senator was doing was not that dangerous because he didn't clamber down to the tracks with electrification from a high-level platform, and he was standing inside what would be Metra's yellow line? This photo
http://perspective.engr.wisc.edu/2012/08/safer-trains-and-automobiles-its-all-in-the-math/
was taken near the WSOR line, at a safe distance from the tracks and without trespassing on WSOR property. Thank you Operation Lifesaver, to all of your corporate, government, and volunteer partners, and thank you to everyone in the community who remain unwavering in their support for behaving responsibly around railroad tracks, operations, and property, with no ifs, ands, buts, exceptions, or excuses for anyone under any circumstances.
Thin skinned? On this topic, you betcha.
ACYWas the Senator being protected by the Spirit of Sarah Jones, whose story did not end so happily? What is it with media people (film, TV or otherwise) that they believe themselves to be immune to the hazards that face the rest of us in the real world? Think of the consequences if some tiny projection on the train had snagged his coat. What a waste of a perfectly good yellow safety stripe!
I also bet it was the camera operator who set up the shot, asking the Senator to stand where he was to get the tracks in the picture. This is not an excuse, but unless a person has had the Operation Lifesaver indoctrination, the tendency is to do whatever the camera person tells you to do.
The Operation Lifesaver message needs to get out to the professional photographer, videographer, and video media community,
schlimm Paul Milenkovic To publicize some engineeering tech, I was asked by our in-house photographer to pose standing on the WSOR track to give the tie in to railroad technology. My response was, "Um, I don't think this gives the right message." Technically speaking, the WSOR trains are not that fast, the crossings are protected by bells and gates, and the train crews sound their horn. Before someone starts up on this, I could have been photographed safely standing on the tracks, although to do that, there probably should have been a lookout in addition to me and the photographer, who were focused (excuse the pun) on getting a good photo. But . . . In addtion to being a research engineer and a train enthusiast, as a passenger train advocate I had been afforded to attend a train-riding session organized by UP and Metra through some advocacy connections, where we had "break out sessions" in discussing what Metra does to keep people like me from doing what the photographer wanted to do. Things like writing tickets for substantial fines. So . . . Even if we took that picture and got away with it without getting a scolding, a warning, or a ticket and a fine, my thinking was to put such a picture in the College of Engineering Annual Report was setting a very bad example, and especially teachers have a moral, ethical, social, and professional reason not do to something illegal (i.e. trespass on WSOR property, even if it is only to stand briefly in a railroad crossing) that we are going photograph and disseminate copies. Therefore . . . The Senator for Connecticut has some 'splainin' to do . . . In conclusion, although the photo op set up was wrong, the Senator was NOT standing on the track, only part way on the very wide yellow warning area, which appears (but I have not measured) to be wider than the ones on Metra, which follows the ADA standard of two feet.
My initial post was simply my own reaction to the posting you made which appeared to my way of seeing, at least, to overlook where the Senator was actually standing. Now you seem to recognize, in contradiction to the remarks above, that the judgement error was likely with the photographer's team. As to thin-skinned, you are the one who seems to choose to take things personally. And for your information, I take track safety very seriously, as has been seen by my many past objections to the ridiculing of the victims of accidents as "Darwin Award Winners." I have yet to see you object to such trivializing.
schlimm My initial post was simply my own reaction to the posting you made which appeared to my way of seeing, at least, to overlook where the Senator was actually standing. Now you seem to recognize, in contradiction to the remarks above, that the judgement error was likely with the photographer's team. As to thin-skinned, you are the one who seems to choose to take things personally. And for your information, I take track safety very seriously, as has been seen by my many past objections to the ridiculing of the victims of accidents as "Darwin Award Winners." I have yet to see you object to such trivializing.
My post made these points 1) a person should obey the law, posted warnings, along with common sense regarding safe conduct around tracks and trains, 2) a person who is a public figure has a social duty not to be photographed violating "1)" because of the example that sets for other people to follow, 3) I have personally benefited from Operation Lifesaver in making choices to not act against either "1)" or "2)", 4) I was "thinking out loud" in wondering why a United States Senator, whose state benefits from various modes of express passenger trains, and who was engaged in publicity for those trains serving and benefiting his state, why that Senator or members of his staff or entourage (or the Mayor who was in the video and receives reports from his Chief of Police regarding people hurt by the train) had not received the indoctrination on safety that I as a member of the train advocacy community had received.
Metra shouts this message from the mountain tops, from cartoon posters at Ogilvie Center showing a "red-faced" police officer writing up a citation to a "clueless" commuter cutting across the tracks to putting track and train safety front and center in every encounter they have with advocacy people as a way of spreading the message.
I comment in a detailed, thoughful manner regarding what just happened in that video, relating from my personal experience how the Senator came to such a photo op, and what I said is then contradicted in a following post. What is "he was NOT standing on the tracks" but a comment meant to contradict a rather detailed argument I had layed out, without resorting to remarks of "stupid" or "Darwin award", that a public figure has a duty to demonstrate safe conduct in proximity to trains, even if you think what he did wasn't all that dangerous?
(I paraphrase here.) "I wasn't contradicting you, I was just making my own observations." "You are thin skinned for thinking I was contradicting you." "Now that you point it out, I guess the Senator was too close to the train." "You are contradicting yourself because now you blame the video camera operator." "You are an enabler of the people saying "stupid" and Darwin Award for not calling them out."
And from previous exchanges:
"You have to have the last word" followed by "You didn't respond to my last remark."
There are people who truly advocate for trains and want to advance the cause, and over 40 years at this, I keep encountering people who need to win every argument and trains appear to be a vehicle for having an argument. Passenger train advocacy is being run into the ground, and that is why I am "thin skinned."
Whatever your point was got lost in the fog of verbiage.
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