Boy stops train with van, takes pictures of emergency stop

[dstill]

When I was young I would have got a beat for something like this, but it a crime to discipline children today.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

I wonder how many of the people here blaming the parents have teenaged children (or had them) themselves? Anyone who thinks you can control everything a 16 or 17 year old does is either incredibly naive or runs their family like Saddam ran Iraq.

Edited to add...

Hello all. This is my first post on this forum, though many of you probably know me from the MR forum.

-Jerry

I raised a daughter - alone - she is all grown and has a family of her own. I didn't expect to know where or what 24/7 - but by golly I made it my business to know a good share of that 24/7. It is called paying attention and listening.

Mook

Mookie,

First off, raising a teenage girl is absolutely NOTHING like raising a teenage boy. I know -- I've done both. Teenage girls can be moody and make you miserable, but teenage boys are independent as heck and have much more testosterone than brains. You can try to keep track of them as best you can and it does you little good.

Dad: Where you going?

Kid: I'm just going over to the mall for a couple of hours with Pete.

Dad: OK -- Make sure you're home on time.

Kid meets Pete, then picks up Scott and Jason. The four of them get a wild hair up their rear and decide to stop a train. They know it's wrong. They know if their parents ever found out about it they would be in deep doo-doo. But the don't give a rip -- they are teenaged boys. So they go off on their half-baked adventure.

Kid gets home...

Dad: How was the mall?

Kid: You know, the usual... kind of boring.

Dad: Well, glad you made it home on time.

Kid: Hey -- no problem.

Now just where in this scenario would paying attention and listening have stopped this from happening?

[?][:)]

Throw the book at the kids... THEY are the ones responsible.

I could write volumes on this one - but I won't. Suffice to say - you start them very young and you are involved in all aspects of their lives. You meet their friends, you don't let your children "go to the mall" - what is out there for them - they don't shop! Involve yourself more in one on one activities - don't "take them places and drop them off".

Do this when they are young and know everything about what they are doing - even in the other room and you won't have children making bombs in their bedrooms and hiding war weapons in the garage. Going to the mall is just an excuse to get out of the house and into mischief.

You forget - girls have children - and now days - they raise as much dust as boys if they aren't carefully watched. The dialog you offer sounds exactly like I said - they are so much furniture. "go play and don't get into trouble"..............

Mookie

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pmsteamman

Maybe these kids should be givin community service by teaching how dumb this stunt was. Operation lifesaver needs to be more in your face to the public,,but im sure that takes $$$$$ the organization may not have.

NOW THERE'S A SOLUTION I LIKE!!!! Just make the boys fund it by selling the van. Send them around to the local schools, and let them tell everyone how stupid they were with that stunt.

[Roadtrp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

I wonder how many of the people here blaming the parents have teenaged children (or had them) themselves? Anyone who thinks you can control everything a 16 or 17 year old does is either incredibly naive or runs their family like Saddam ran Iraq.

Edited to add...

Hello all. This is my first post on this forum, though many of you probably know me from the MR forum.

-Jerry

I raised a daughter - alone - she is all grown and has a family of her own. I didn't expect to know where or what 24/7 - but by golly I made it my business to know a good share of that 24/7. It is called paying attention and listening.

Mook

Mookie,

First off, raising a teenage girl is absolutely NOTHING like raising a teenage boy. I know -- I've done both. Teenage girls can be moody and make you miserable, but teenage boys are independent as heck and have much more testosterone than brains. You can try to keep track of them as best you can and it does you little good.

Dad: Where you going?

Kid: I'm just going over to the mall for a couple of hours with Pete.

Dad: OK -- Make sure you're home on time.

Kid meets Pete, then picks up Scott and Jason. The four of them get a wild hair up their rear and decide to stop a train. They know it's wrong. They know if their parents ever found out about it they would be in deep doo-doo. But the don't give a rip -- they are teenaged boys. So they go off on their half-baked adventure.

Kid gets home...

Dad: How was the mall?

Kid: You know, the usual... kind of boring.

Dad: Well, glad you made it home on time.

Kid: Hey -- no problem.

Now just where in this scenario would paying attention and listening have stopped this from happening?

[?][:)]

Throw the book at the kids... THEY are the ones responsible.

[kenneo]

The comments about goin into the big hole in these situations.

A hoghead that is now retired, former AMTK, also a real good man on long and heavey ones --- this man could stop a train faster than anyone I ever knew of.

How did he do this. First, he never ever made a straight emergency application. First, he streached the train by giving a 5-7 pound reduction, letting it propogate for at least 5 seconds. Then he took 10 more pounds making a reduction of 15-17 pounds. While the 5 pounder is going back to start the braking process, this 10 pounder is going to thow out the anchor.

Since he only as 5-8 pounds left (freight), he would leave the set at this point unless he thought he could stop prior to collision. For passenger, he would then, after about 5 seconds at 15-17, make a maximum reduction in as many pieces he figured he could manage so that he would avoid throwing people down and skidding the soup off the table.

Where most hogheads would simply clean the clock and still hit whatever it was, the amazing thing is, this man had only 3 times (that I know of) he was not able to stop - over a time span of 40 plus years.

Simply amazing.

He also said something else as to why he stopped this way. It got the train streached so if he did derail, there was all that slack streached out to absorbe stopping distance and therefor, fewer boxcars got bent up. To say nothing about HAZMAT loads. Each car was, therefor, stopping only itself and not every car behind it too.

[Anonymous]

I think I'll add to that RudyRockvilleMD:

1 spoiled little brat boy=1 brain that's occasionally useless
2 spoiled little brats=1/4 brain with stupid ideas being made
3 spoiled little brats=0 brains with nothing but trouble

[RudyRockvilleMD]

1 boy = 1 brain
2 boys = 1/2 brain
3 boys = 1/3 brain
. .
. .
. .
n boys = 1/n brains

[locomutt]

The boys do need to be punished, not just repremanded. They and their parents
(if the boys were underage) need to accept responsibility for their action, and
pay the piper, so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Whoever the kid was, he needs some common sense pills and stupidity anti-venom quick.

[Anonymous]

Just two more kids who need to be "drained" from the gene pool...........Maybe next time the engineer will NOT see them. I wonder how THAT video will turn out???

[Kozzie]

The irony is overwhelming! Such a stupid and unsafe action - so much for the safety classes ! [banghead]

[Anonymous]

I think the railroad should pu***he issue on this. I don't believe it would be bad PR for them to do so - it might just make some people think, "Gee, if I cause this train to stop, and I'm sure they've got ways to find out who I am, it's going to cost me big." Push it, and make it stick - NO PLEA BARGAINING! These kids knew exactly what they were doing. If mommy and daddy have to start whupping *** to get them into line, so be it.

This goes in line with the issue of graffiti that I brought up a few weeks ago - they have no sense of propriety or what it costs the railroads because they wanted to have some fun or were doing it in the interests of academics.

When I was in the Navy, we used to get a weekly bulletin from the Naval Safety Center describing all the stupid things sailors and marines used to do to themselves on or off the job. This stunt ranks up there with some of the stupidest I've ever read about.

[espeefoamer]

These "kids" should be made to pull the dead body(ies) out of the next car hit at that crossing.[:(!]

[pmsteamman]

Maybe these kids should be givin community service by teaching how dumb this stunt was. Operation lifesaver needs to be more in your face to the public,,but im sure that takes $$$$$ the organization may not have.

[espeefoamer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrnut282

It does give proponents of a "parenting license" (you can have children only if you qualify) ammunition, doesn't it?
Anybody want to vote for 10 lashes on the public square for both kids and their parents?

A big YES! vote on this one.

[coalminer3]

Just think! Old enough to vote and to procreate................

work safe

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

I wonder how many of the people here blaming the parents have teenaged children (or had them) themselves? Anyone who thinks you can control everything a 16 or 17 year old does is either incredibly naive or runs their family like Saddam ran Iraq.

Edited to add...

Hello all. This is my first post on this forum, though many of you probably know me from the MR forum.

-Jerry

I raised a daughter - alone - she is all grown and has a family of her own. I didn't expect to know where or what 24/7 - but by golly I made it my business to know a good share of that 24/7. It is called paying attention and listening.

Mook

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by daveklepper

Aren't the parents really the ones at fault here? Dave Klepper

I agree - I think parents ought to have to pony up the $ for damages on what their children do. Maybe there would be a little more parental guidence instead of just children furniture - you just move them from place to place.

Mook

That's a lot of flat spots on wheels to be fixed!!!

I thought they cancelled that show "Jackass".

Sorry Mark, they must have been thinking of of the OLD Dougal [;)]

[Anonymous]

I cannot beleive how stupid people can be and how they act..a safety film by placing himself as others in danger..safety..get him the hell off the road as the rails befor someone dies..by the way wheres the web cam?

be good be great

David brown

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougal

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

Were either of the boys named Dougal or Doggy?[:)]

And people wonder why I don't go here anymore

It was a joke Dougal..that's why I put a little smiley by it....just pulling your leg....

I guessed that but after that comment I got about my spelling (not by you) I've been overreacting to everything people post about me. Sorry about that![:)]

[Roadtrp]

I wonder how many of the people here blaming the parents have teenaged children (or had them) themselves? Anyone who thinks you can control everything a 16 or 17 year old does is either incredibly naive or runs their family like Saddam ran Iraq.

Edited to add...

Hello all. This is my first post on this forum, though many of you probably know me from the MR forum.

-Jerry

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougal

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

Were either of the boys named Dougal or Doggy?[:)]

And people wonder why I don't go here anymore

It was a joke Dougal..that's why I put a little smiley by it....just pulling your leg....

[Anonymous]

What an idiot!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

Were either of the boys named Dougal or Doggy?[:)]

And people wonder why I don't go here anymore

[Mookie]

You know - I have a feeling that most engineers would not put it into emergency - not because they want to kill someone, but for their own safety first. And what if this "child" had stalled the car/van and not gotten it off the tracks in time - could he judge exactly how close that train was?

Parents today are way too lax in their training of their own children. You don't have to beat a kid to death to get him/her to show respect, pay attention and think before you do something as foolish as tangle with something bigger than a bread box. Your own actions would take care of a lot of those lessons. I still think we need to involve the parents more in the payment of the damages until the child is the age of majority. We taxpayers are not only cash registers, we are babysitters as well.

And Kevin - in most states, they will plea bargin a 17 year old down to a juvenile status so he won't be tried as an adult - and if he murders and goes to prison - he is out at 19 here, 18 other places. Plus his record is sealed and no one will be the wiser.

Mook

[tree68]

I'm going to take the fence on this one.

The parents clearly cannot control every little thing their kids do, especially when they get mobile. We may never know if this was a spur of the moment lark, or if the kid is a regular ne'er-do-well. Regardless, the kid(s) get a large portion of the blame, and if they did the crime, they should do the "time."

On the other hand, the parents are still legally responsible. It was probably the family van that was used in the commission of the crime. So, the parents should still get something out of the deal. If nothing else, it will help Mom & Dad decide that punishment beyond whatever the authorities might dish out would be appropriate.

I hope the kid hasn't gotten rid of his bike yet. If it was my kid, when he got back from the moon, he wouldn't have to worry about sitting his sore behind in the driver's seat for a (long) while, perhaps unless a responsible adult (ie, me) was with him.

[dekemd]

I agree with Kevin on this one. They were at least sixteen to be able to drive. They probably told their parents they were going to go take a picture of a train for their project. If your kids told you this would you suspect they were going to do something this stupid? Probably not, unless they've done stupid stunts like this before. The blame for this rest squarely on the kids. They're old enough to know better. I think the 10 lashes would be appropriate punishment. I imagine the engineer had to use a lot of self-restraint to keep from beating them senseless on the spot.

Derrick

[vsmith]

If these were MY kids you'd hear NASA stating that two objects were heading towards the MOON at high speed with what looked like a large boot print on each of thier asses!

[Willy2]

I totally believe that the parents were really the ones at fault in the situation. As parents they have the responsibility of knowing what their kids are doing. If they knew that their kids were going to do this they should have given them a swift kick you know where and put extra energy into monitering them. If they didn't know, then maybe they need the swift kick and they need to start watching their kids like hawks and doing what parents are meant to do! Keep their children out of trouble!

Willy

[wabash1]

My train is only put in emergency after the impact. I have several accidents under my belt and it is always after the impact . there is several people out in public that try and impress someone with the chicken game. A good way of getting them to move is turn the headlight off.( is real good at night they run quick ) also works in daylight to.. the biggest crime i can see that these boys have dont is intentionally holding up interstate commerce. with fines up to 1million and 10 years in prison or both. this is a federal crime. and if the railroad wants to prosecute it will stick. Ed can tell more on this subject. but the kids will get off light cause the railroads wont want bad pr. dispatchers and trainmasters dont like their trains put into emergency unless you hit something. there is nothing they can do about it if you do because its a judgement call, but most times the people will move and leave and your stopped. and the delays mount up. the good ole ripple effect.