Netherlands has highest train suicide rate in EU
Of all the 27 countries of the European Union, the Netherlands takes first place when it comes to railway suicides. The Netherlands has racked up 1,4 deaths per million kilometres of train trips made in a year, while the much sparser tracks in Germany gets 0,6 and Belgium, also a country with much track, scores 0,9.
Although some 190 people in the Netherlands killed themselves by jumping in front of trains in 2006 and some 193 in 2007, the figure was down to 164 in 2008, but was not included in the report of the European Railway Agency on this topic.
One of the possible explanations for the amount of suicides is the fact that people live very close to the tracks. In other countries people who are suicidal probably chose a different method.
(Link: dutchnews, Volkskrant)
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I guess we have the best train system in the world!
Comment by Richard Gill — September 9, 2009 @ 11:27 am
That’s some dark thinking – I like it :)
Comment by Orangemaster — September 9, 2009 @ 11:29 am
well, people here aren’t certainly going to kill themselves by jumping off cliffs or mountain peaks.
Comment by Walter Aprile — September 9, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
What about suicides per million regardless of method?
Comment by Neil — September 9, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
@Neil – We have no real reason to post about that.
Comment by Orangemaster — September 9, 2009 @ 11:06 pm
You gave no real reason for posting on a lot of the topics you post on… but I enjoy them nonetheless.
Comment by Neil — September 10, 2009 @ 1:09 am
yes, my trains got delaied a few times because of that
Comment by radu — November 2, 2009 @ 12:22 pm