Darwin Winner

[Gob]

UPDATE 11am:

A MAN'S friends looked on in horror as he was run over and killed while attempting to run under a moving semi-trailer in Melbourne's north.


The 23-year-old Brunswick East man had been standing on a footpath with his friends on Phoenix Street, Brunswick, when he attempted to cross the road by running under a slow-moving semi-trailer travelling at about 5km/h, police say.

He was struck by the rear tyres of the truck at 10.45pm yesterday. The man died from upper-body injuries at the scene.

His death brings Victoria's weekend road toll to three.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman Ray Rowe said friends of the victim were attempting to revive him with CPR.

"Our paramedics continued on with the CPR but unfortunately he died at the scene," Mr Rowe said.

Paramedics reported a crowd of several passers-by watching on for the desperate revival attempt.

Mr Rowe also said the truck driver required minor treatment for shock. "With those sort of traumas you've got to be careful; medically he was OK, but was suffering shock.

The truck was travelling at about 5km/h on Phoenix St as it merged with traffic in Sydney Rd.

[The Hen]

I hope the driver doesnt have lasting issues.

[BoSoxGal]

I hope the driver doesnt have lasting issues.

Wishful thinking.

Stupid arse is now out of the gene pool; wretched that he had to ruin somebody else's life in the process.

[rubato]

You never know. Some people are easily traumatized and carry it with them a long time and others ... not really.



yrs,
rubato

[Miles]

There are scores of railroad engeneers who have had serious tramatic problems after some damn fool tries to beat the train and ends up under it's wheels.

[BoSoxGal]

Not to mention the folks who deliberately put themselves on the tracks, because they're too gutless to slit their wrists or blow their brains out, so instead they make a train engineer do it for them.

Hereabouts in choo-choo country, I've heard terrible tales of the PTSD suffered by those guys.

[oldr_n_wsr]

There was a newspaper article on train engineers who have hit people be it suicide or by accident. Somewhere around 40% never returned to the job and were reassigned.

[Gob]

I worked (abet briefly) as a train guard in the UK. On one of our training sessions we were told we may encounter what the coroner's service call' "a two mile jigsaw".

[loCAtek]

Yea, a friend of mine has been through that, more than once, but the RXR is an outstanding union

[oldr_n_wsr]

When I was a volly in the Mineola FD we got a call that a van got hit by a train. Nine teenagers were inside, one lived. The things I saw and what we had to do that night still haunt me.
Counseling helped, but it can't remove what you saw and did.

[Gob]

Dear god, that must have been terrible.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Dear god, that must have been terrible.

Yes it was. What preceded us getting there was very disturbing for me also. I was at home (parents house) at about 11pm on a Saturday night (IIRC) and the radio goes off and comes over with "maroon chevrolet van hit by train, Herricks Blvd south of Jericho Tpke". My mom was awake at the time and my brother wasn't home and had a marron chevy van. She looks at me with downright fear in her eyes/face and says "when you get there, you must call me and let me know if it's your brother". no way I was doing that, besides, this was long before cell phones so it would have had to wait until I got back to the firehouse or found a payphone

Anyway, thankfully (for my family but not for the families of the victims) it was a blue van (forgot the make). I guess at night one can't see the color of a van that is basically a crushed beer can with river of blood flowing out from every opening.

Thankfully, in some years later, they have eliminated the "at grade" RR crossing on Herricks Blvd so this cannot happen again.

ETA
Took us over a half hour to find/determine that one person had survived and even longer to figure how many people were in the van.

[The Hen]

It is certainly an experience I hope I never have.

What has been seen can never be unseen.

[oldr_n_wsr]

It is certainly an experience I hope I never have.

What has been seen can never be unseen.

You got that right. Most of us had some type/level of PTSD but that term wasn't widely used in the late 1970's, if at all. And while we did talk to the counselor, the overall attitude at the time and in the department was "be a man and suck it up".

[The Hen]

Fuck that attitude.

Who said you are NOT a man for feeling compassion and grief at such an attrocious sight.

[oldr_n_wsr]

We are talking about the late 1970's when men were men and sheep were scared.

But seriously, that was the attitude back then (although it was beginning to change) and we (the young-uns) were pretty much raised that way. The elders in the department, even more-so.