It is surmised that he wore them, as a pair of earphones was collected from near the site. But that increases the mystification that Doc would jog on an active rail line AND mask out the sound of a potentially fatal train hit.
This whole incident is really fishy. I am not at all a conspiratorial theorist, and Occam’s Razor indicates that this was indeed a tragic accident. Still, I don’t even jog on a road unless I’m facing traffic, and I know darn well NEVER to jog on any rail lines unless I know 100% that the line is inactive.
Again, his family is my first thought. Growing up without a dad is going to be hard for his children. But the whole situation is troubling.
My father demonstrated for me as a kid how long it takes for a train at speed to stop; it took more than a minute and a half, and we walked back the near mile to where he noted the ‘stop’ sign was. We weren’t rushing, it took us a good 15 minutes to get there.
It was a very strong life lesson, and walking back to the car, I had plenty to think about. Since then I always look both ways when crossing railroad tracks, even those with controlled gates. More than a few times, I’d look one way, see it clear, then look the other and see a train heading to the crossing.
Once, it saved my life as I was able to stop in time before the train barreled through the crossing, the gates never coming down (followed by a call to the county sheriff.)
Run along railroad tracks? Yep, I’d want to be 100% sure they were utterly inactive before I risked that. Ear buds are secondary - it was being on the tracks that killed him.
People seem to get stupid around trains, I don’t know why. Loads of folks killed by them here in NM, all different circumstances.
Look! Tracks!
What made them?
Should I follow them?
Will the thing that made them come back?
If the thing made them is that big, should I avoid the tracks?
How can I avoid the thing that made these tracks?
Ear buds or headphones are OK, though it makes a lot of sense to plug only one. As he discovered the hard way.