"Miss Deaf Texas hit and killed by train"

[Jack]

This just in -- Deaf beauty queen was text-messaging when hit by train

Deaf beauty contest winner Tara McAvoy was walking from home to her mother's workplace, text-messaging family and friends, as she walked along the railroad tracks in Austin, Texas, when a train struck her, according to the Austin Police Department. . . . .

A snowplow -- commonly referred to as "cattle-guards" for pushing items away from the tracks to avoid train damage -- was what struck McAvoy, who was estimated to be "no more than a foot" from the tracks, Fugitt said.

"The snowplow extends approximately 16 inches on each side from the train," he said, and was mounted to the front engine of the train.

Death by Blackberry.

I still think that if she could hear, she wouldn't have gotten hit by the train. Whether she was text messaging, combing her hair, or knitting is irrelevant because had she been a hearing person, she would've most likely heard the train (trains are loud). It's the fact that she was not hearing that led to her death (and her fame).

[gonzo914]

I still think that if she could hear, she wouldn't have gotten hit by the train. Whether she was text messaging, combing her hair, or knitting is irrelevant because had she been a hearing person, she would've most likely heard the train (trains are loud). It's the fact that she was not hearing that led to her death (and her fame).

And if she had been on the bloody sidewalk where pedestrians belong, she wouldn't have gotten hit by a train, either. In the event, it was her bad decision to walk the tracks that was the primary factor in her becoming fodder for the cow-catcher; that she could not hear was secondary. (The Blackberry part just makes it a deliciously grim tale.)

[Bloomfield]

Birth was the death of her.


(Beckett - except he said "him")

[gonzo914]

Birth was the death of her.
(Beckett - except he said "him")

Birth -- The first and direst of all disasters
Ambrose Bierce

Beckett . . . Bierce . . . . Tomorrow let's do 'C' quotations. You can do Camus, and I'll do Jerry Cologna. Or perhaps the Emperor Constantine, who once said "Vaccimium balatro et asellus est."

[Lambchop]

. . . .but that disability which brought her into the public light is what killed her.

No, what killed her was being stupid enough to walk along the train tracks for a shortcut, especially considering that she knew she was at a disadvantage because she couldn't hear an approaching train. It's not like the train jumped the tracks and went after her; she put herself in an inherently hazardous situation.

Railroad tracks are not pedestrian right-of-ways; and there's a good reason they don't put sidewalks right alongside the tracks -- because it's dangerous. Hell, I can hear, and I don't take shortcuts through the rail yards. (And if I did, I don't think I'd be farting around with my Blackberry on the way.)

Yup. That would be it.

I'll just add a bit about the "disabled" thing. The only difference between them and the rest of us is that they're already clued in on what their problem is.

[dfernandez77]

I think you're both missing the point, as usual.

Usually if the writer makes a point, the reader is more likely not to miss it.

I would have said nothing, but for the "as usual."

Oh! And re: the original topic...
... thrashing in the water where great white sharks are present might get you killed too, deaf or not. The able bodied apparently have no monopoly on bad decisions.

[mukade]

What difference does hearing ability make in a beauty contest?

If the candidates are comely wenches with an intractable desire to aid children and animals, I fail to see why deafness is a factor.

Mukade

[Martin Milner]

I still think that if she could hear, she wouldn't have gotten hit by the train. Whether she was text messaging, combing her hair, or knitting is irrelevant because had she been a hearing person, she would've most likely heard the train (trains are loud). It's the fact that she was not hearing that led to her death (and her fame).

And if she had been on the bloody sidewalk where pedestrians belong, she wouldn't have gotten hit by a train, either. In the event, it was her bad decision to walk the tracks that was the primary factor in her becoming fodder for the cow-catcher; that she could not hear was secondary. (The Blackberry part just makes it a deliciously grim tale.)

Quite. I'm sorry she was killed, but she was responsible, not the train driver. If she'd had full hearing but been talking on the phone instead of texting, the result would likely have been the same.

Anywhere in London you'll see dozens of people yakking on mobile phones and totally oblivious to their dangerous surrounding.

You don't have to be deaf to not hear death approaching.

[Flyingcursor]

What difference does hearing ability make in a beauty contest?

If the candidates are comely wenches with an intractable desire to aid children and animals, I fail to see why deafness is a factor.

Mukade

My first thought. What's with the Ms. Deaf Texas? Why not just enter the Ms. Texas contest?

We had a kid run in front of a train last year about a mile from my house. The paramedics were quite disturbed by the sight.

It's been over 20 years since I read Godot. Maybe I need to get my nose out of the history books and diversify.

[Walden]

When *ANYONE* gets hit and killed by a train, it should be sad.
Unfortunately, it's only sad enough for the national media when it's somebody with some degree of fame or notoriety.

One of my former classmates, from elementary-high school, was hit by a freight train, not long after we were out of school. She was in a somewhat comatose state for a long time, but got better.

I can recall in grade school that an engineer came to school and gave a presentation on the dangers of trains.

[Redwolf]

I think you're both missing the point, as usual. The reason that the case is a bit unusual and has made the national news is not that she was a white lady or a particularly famous individual (although she was both), but that part of why she was killed was because her deafness, the one aspect that made her famous in the first place, was what prevented her from hearing the train and got her killed.

Here was a disabled young woman who was already accomplishing a lot in her lifetime, and she was showing that a person can overcome a physical disability, but that very disability which brought her acknowledgment contributed to getting her killed in the end.

It's a sad irony kind of story, not a "OMG, famOus white LAdy killed!?!!?1" kind of story.

I don't think her deafness was as big a factor as you might think. Trains cause the ground to shake considerably...even if you can't hear a train approach, you can feel it, especially if you're walking near enough to the tracks to be struck by the train. I grew up in a railroad town, and we kids used to put pennies on the tracks...you could feel the train coming long before it was close enough to hurt you. Deaf people are typically well-attuned to such things.

It could also be argued that walking that close to a railroad track, especially if you have a disability that could make it harder for you than others to sense the approach of a train, is pretty darned foolish (and possibly suicidal) behavior.


Redwolf

[susnfx]

My first thought was that she would have felt the approaching train. A teenager neighbor of ours committed suicide by standing on the tracks about two blocks from his home. He was finally identified by a piece of shirt. His friends (including my daughter) were devastated for years--she still talks about it. I hope that wasn't what occurred in this situation, a tragedy no matter what the true situation was.

Susan

[Innocent Bystander]

What difference does hearing ability make in a beauty contest?

If the candidates are comely wenches with an intractable desire to aid children and animals, I fail to see why deafness is a factor.

Mukade

There's an old British Joke about a woman getting Birth Control on the National Health (wasn't possible then).
"...But you can't get Birth Control on the National Health!"
"Well, it was me deaf aid you see. When me and him was going to bed, he used to say 'shall we go to sleep or what?' and me being so deaf, I'd always say 'what?'"

[Innocent Bystander]

We used to have a lot of youngsters killed walking home on the train lines after the pubs had closed. It hasn't happened recently - maybe because they've put a footbridge over the river beside the railway bridge.

[jim stone]

I think what Cranberry is after here, whether it actually
applies aside, is this: sometimes a feature that helps make
somebody great destroys her too.