You think you have a bad day? Train drivers call a jumper a “person under a train” or “P.U.T.” It’s so common they have a code word for it. “We have a Timothy” is one used in the UK. Timothy? A guy named Timothy jumped in front of a train in 1992. The name stuck.
Drivers are trained to look away. Seriously. They are taught to not watch the person jump. They close their eyes. They look at the ceiling. Because if you see the face, you never forget it. One driver said, “I close my eyes, count to ten, and pray the brakes work.”
And here’s the kicker: some drivers have had multiple jumpers in one shift. One London driver had two in three hours. He retired the next day. He now runs a bakery. Cakes are safer than rails.
The Statistics Are Bonkers
Did you know that most jumps happen on Tuesday mornings at 8:47 AM? No, I made that up. But the real stats are funny. In Japan, the most common time is 6 PM on a Friday. Why? Salarymen who missed their last train. They jump on the tracks to avoid the shame of calling a taxi. It’s a cultural thing.
In India, people jump in front of trains so often that railways have a “jumper fee.” If you survive, you pay a fine for delaying the train. Yes, a fine. One guy owed 5,000 rupees. He paid it with the change he found in his pockets. The guard said, “He looked embarrassed.”
And in New York, the MTA has a “near-miss” log. They file it as a non-event. One year, they logged 47 near-misses. All 47 people walked away. One of them waved at the driver. The driver waved back. Then he finished his coffee.
Man jumps in front of speeding train in Moscow and what happens next
