So who's to blame?

Well according to this from ABC it looks like he was at the crossing...gates ect...such a tragic thing to happen to such a young man. 

I would have been a little more sensitive to a grieving family.

Most of the reports I have seen say that he was crossing the tracks near the intersection of Bryn Mawr and Avondale Avenues, which is a fully gated crossing. However, some reports say it was near the Norwood Park station, which is about 3/8 of a mile from that crossing. It may be that he was crossing the tracks somewhere between those two points. In any event, it is a tragedy for the young man and his family / friends.

You are expecting the drive-by media to give you an ACCURATE account of a newsworthy event? Not gonna happen.

Journalism is dead. It assumed room temperature many years ago. 

"Has anyone noticed the attempt to cover personal stupidity to find blaim with the railroad?"

The story is a kid was hit by a train. That's almost always because the kid was where he shouldn't be. Compassion for his friends and family,  and sensitivity to the tragedy would be a more appropriate response to this catastrophe than worrying about the railroad mistakenly being thought responsible. What exactly would you like the news media to report that they didn't?  Your comments are, in my view, appallingly lacking in sympathy for a grieving family and thoroughly misplaced.

For that matter, who makes it through their childhood and teenage years, or early 20s without doing something dangerous and stupid? Riding on the hood of a car or in the bed of a truck?  Several kids are killed each year by hitting their head after falling off a car going 5 miles an hour in a parking lot. 

Somehow I think you, and all of us, didn't make it through growing to adulthood without doing something incredibly dumb.  You were just fortunate, as most of us are, to survive our own learning curve.  Some humility can be tremendously attractive when other people are suffering.

Actaully, it assumed FREEZING temps years ago.

And you would think the media would have a commont like, "If you are crossing traffic, take your ear buds and phones off."  But fewer accidents would put them out of a job.  I would think the media does have some resonsibilities themselves!

Gentlemen,

   Rich is absolutely correct never believe the media is accurate today, it's not news any more it's hype, even the weather has become sensationalism.  I can only imagine loosing a son in this manner, the family will never be the same again.  The engineer driving the train will be devistated, the boy probably never heard the train and there was absolutely no way for the engineer to stop the train in time, may God take away their pain, nobody else can.  Our family has been in the railroad business for generations, you could hear a pin drop in our homes, as this information was released to the public.  God help all involved in this tragedy.

PCRR/Dave

 the fact is, the train crew has to live with this for the rest of their lives,what about them?.-jim

That would be me.  From an early age if I did something even mildly stupid my father would go into a ramage at my mother about giving the dumb a** kid stupid pills again and then make suggestions to me about doing something really stupid like playing in traffic and killing myself so he wouldn't have to deal with it any more.

It worked.

For what it's worth, We live in the Chicago area, and my wife is a volunteer with our local Fire Department. That said there has been a concerted effort by ALL the suburban community law enforcement agencies as well as all the fire & rescue departments to request that the news media NOT cover these types of incidences. The great fear is that extensive news coverage will then produce "copy cat" events of suicide on the railroad track, which by the way, is a MAJOR problem, in the Chicago Suburbs.

Sure, the "pretty face" on the local Chicago TV stations "reported" that, "The Conductor sounded the horn, but was unable to stop the train." Obviously the youn idiot "producers/writers" have no clue, but the fact remains that the Chicago news media may have just been requested by the investigating law enforcement agency in this case to, "not give all the details'. 

From the other side of the coin: Occupational Hazard.

People who run trains know there are from time to time train accidents.  Most time the train "wins", though there are of course some where the crew dies too.

If you can't deal with this fact of life, you shouldn't apply for such a job.

Sort of like how people who can't deal with violent criminals shouldn't become Cops.

In case you can't tell, I agree with others who have said this is not the time to tell the grieving family that their (dead) kid was an idiot.

Hello Mixerman,

I was responding to the name calling. I agree that the crew needs sympathy also,

Denny

The sad truth of the whole situation is that it was avoidable.

Rusty

Most accidents are.

Jeff C

Near us there have been a couple of instances of suicide by train.  When it happens there is an outpouring of support for the family, friends and classmates of the "victim" but no mention of any for the engineer.  I imagine it can't be easy on them bearing down on a person on the tracks knowing there is really nothing they can do to avoid it.  Do railroads do anything for RR personnel when this happens?

Absolutely! There is all sorts of grief support provided by the railroad, the transit authority and the unions.

I agree with Rich,

Most investigating agencies do not give out any info. to anyone, except those who are officially part of the investigation!

The lawyers have their way of getting official documented reports and the news media have to contact the reporting agency's/agencies official information contact offices.

The news media, for the most part, speculate the involved occurrences, so as to readily give a news report, due to lack of time involved.  BUT, sometimes the news broadcast inaccuracies, because, mostly the news is NOT an official report and somehow get around certain legalities!!

Ralph

News agencies have to deal with limited time, limited space, and limited attention spans, and get as many stories reported as possible.

To accurately report the story would impart so much detail in such a short time, that it would confuse the average person. From my experience of 20 years in a very detail oriented field, most people cannot process more than one detail at a time.

There really would be no point in saying, "The student was somewhere he shouldn't be, with buds in his ears and his ipod blasting." People would still be on "Kid hit by train," miss the detail completely, and *STILL* blame the railroad.

A 17 year old was too stupid to not get out of the way of a train? Consideration for the family's tragedy and loss? I believe that would begin with the news media not covering the story at all. Sure we were all stupid and young once and we all got what we deserved more then once.  But then I just met my Ruination with a few double IPAs and probably shouldn't be posting right now anyway.

The news stations and websites could use horrible incident this to teach how to safely  cross the tracks and about how fast the commuter trains move down the tracks.

Andrew

News media reporting incidents involving trains, and giving accurate information???   you must be joking! Their speculation is as bad as most of the action you see in train movies.

Depending on speed and weight of a vehicle, trying to stop on a road, one can observe the distance the vehicle travels, before coming to a stop.

NOW, take a train on smooth, slippery tracks!!!!!!!

Ralph