Citizens in New York City are understandably upset and afraid of taking the city’s vaunted subway system because of how dangerous it’s become.
During the pandemic, the subway system cut back its service considerably. But the security problem was made dramatically worse by the “defund the police” movement, which convinced former Mayor Bill de Blasio to remove many of the metro police who were helping the transit authority protect subway riders.
Predictably, the muggers and crazies began to prey on commuters, leading to the deaths of several unsuspecting innocents who were shoved onto the highly electrified “third rail” or simply pushed into the path of oncoming trains.
New York’s new mayor Eric Adams, a former cop, is proposing a radical and expensive means of addressing the problem — and other cities could follow suit.
The solution? Platform doors.
Related: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Bemoans ‘Perception of Fear’ After Another Subway Murder
If you’re not familiar with the concept (and I wasn’t) these devices are barriers that separate people on the platforms from the dropoff to the rail tracks below. Doorways in the barrier open up in front of the rail car doors, and only when the train is at the station. It’s an expensive modification, but one that has been deemed necessary. Why? Because people keep getting shoved onto the tracks by deranged homeless people or gang members, sometimes resulting in their deaths. And other cities like Chicago are asking why they aren’t doing this also. (CBS Chicago)
In fact, the number of killed or injured subway riders — whether pushed or not — justifies the extra expense.
Federal data reviewed by CBS shows that 85 people have been struck and killed by metro trains in Chicago over the past five years. A much larger number have been injured. The numbers in New York City are three times as high. Of course, not all of them were pushed to their deaths by homicidal maniacs. In June of 2019, a Chicago woman accidentally dropped her phone down off the platform at a rail station and jumped down to retrieve it. She was unable to climb back out and was struck and killed by an arriving train.
Would platform doors have saved that woman’s life? Probably. Sometimes, people need to be protected from their own stupidity.
And sometimes, they need protection from the wolves.
But at the same time, not all that many people were absentmindedly wandering off the edge of the platforms or leaping down to retrieve dropped items. The danger levels have been seriously amplified by the proliferation of mentally unstable homeless people and gang activity. The very idea of randomly shoving someone down into the path of an oncoming train should have always been unthinkable for any sane, rational person. But the percentage of sane, rational people hanging out in the metro systems around our country clearly seems to be decreasing.
Yes, the world has changed. And like everything else, some of the changes have been wondrous and some have been evil. But adapting to changing times is necessary if we wish to find happiness.
Just wish we didn’t have to worry about being thrown under a train by some nutcase.
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