Up_Tilt_390
Member
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 923
While I do think the Merseyrail guard mentioned above was a fool, you can hardly call someone who has wilfully and deliberately got themselves so intoxicated that they act that dangerously[1] a victim. It is rather like calling someone who takes a shortcut across a railway line a victim when what they are is an inconsiderate idiot.
[1] Before anyone brings that up, it is not like rape or similar, because that is primarily caused by the rapist. Leaning on trains is plainly and obviously dangerous, and does not require a wilful bad act by someone to make it dangerous.
Okay maybe I made a poor comparison at first, but I don't that comparing the case at James Street with someone walking across the railway line is that good either. I don't think anyone else is at fault if some nitwit walks on the railway tracks and gets hit by a train. I don't see why Network Rail needs to be fined for this, because it's not like level crossings don't exist, or even bridges. In the case of a car driving through a level crossing and being hit by a train, it is not the fault of the railway staff because they have already provided a level crossing to ensure that the public can safely cross the tracks and let them know when it is safe. Choosing to ignore that is the fault of the person doing so.
In the case of James Street it was the result of negligence on behalf of a member of railway staff. I get that leaning on trains is dangerous, drunk or not, but the guard saw this person and acted in a way that would've potentially injured or killed someone. In this case it did. I am not a guard, but I know that they have to make sure it's clear to proceed, otherwise it's against regulations. If she was really annoying him and causing problems, he should've had station staff at James Street keep her, helping the person out and trying to get them to a safe place until she could be dealt with properly. He could've done anything else really. Instead the guard chose to have the train proceed, and as a result a person's life that didn't need to be lost was taken.
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