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[quote user="marknewton"][quote user="Bucyrus"]Mark, it is certainly reasonable to say that trespassing on the bridge would be dangerous, but I would not call it a deathtrap. [/quote] You wouldn't, because I suspect you've never had to walk on a structure like that. From experience, I would. [quote]A perfectly robustly constructed walkway with a perfect hand railing running thousands of feet in a perfectly straight, level line inspires confidence.  After a thousand feet or so, the confidence turns into complacency.  Why wear out your hand by keeping it riding along the railing?  There is no need to hang onto the railing on such a perfect, secure walkway.[/quote] Isn't there? If you seriously believe that, then continuing this exchange is a waste of time. If you let go of the handrail, you are putting yourself at great risk, no ifs, no buts, no hypotheticals. The handrail is there for a reason. If you can't understand that, I have to wonder how do you deal with the hazards in your workplace? [quote]Who would expect a hole big enough to fall through?  How many people would see the hole in time? [/quote] Anyone with more than two functioning brain cells. Anyone who was watching where they were putting their feet. Anyone whose training and experience included walking safely across a railroad bridge. Anyone except the dozey slapper who fell off the thing, apparently. [quote]That hole in the walkway is exponentially more dangerous than all the general hazards of the bridge put together.  I would call that hole a deathtrap.In fact it is such an extreme deathtrap that I would not be surprised if we learn more about how it came about as the story develops.[/quote] Again, is there ANY evidence of a hole in the walkway?[/quote]The news reports have stated that a plank was missing, leaving a 6-foot-long hole presumably as wide as the plank.  I still would not call the bridge in general a deathtrap.  People have been trespassing on it for 100 years, and there have not been a lot of deaths.  Maybe you would hang onto the handrail, but I doubt that most people would.  I might keep my hand running along it ready to grip if the conditions seemed really treacherous. There is no obvious reason to hang onto it unless the wind is blowing hard and/or there is a lot of snow or ice.  It's mainly a barrier to keep a person from walking off the edge of the plank.  If hanging onto the handrail were critical, you would have to have a continuous grip on it, which would be hard to do while walking.  Holding the handrail would also require that you walk close to that edge which has a pretty big gap between the planks and the lower pipe, however, walking close to the railing does provide the largest clearance to trains.  But if I were walking across, I would favor the side of the walkway nearest the track and keep an eye out for trains.  I would also keep my eyes on the walkway.  If it were daytime, I would expect to see a big hole in time to avoid falling through it.  If I did not have a light, and it was so dark that I could not see the walkway, I would be really wary of falling through a hole.  If you are aware of all possibilities, you must consider that the walkway may have gotten torn up by a passing train and nobody knows it yet.
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