Posted on 03/13/2006 9:40:38 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
AUSTIN -- The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died Monday afternoon after being struck by a train in Austin.
Authorities said 18-year-old Tara Rose McAvoy was walking near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train. A witness told Austin television station KTBC the train sounded its horn right up until the collision occurred.
McAvoy, who had been deaf since birth, won the state title in June. The state pageant director said she represented Texas "with dignity and pride."
McAvoy was to represent Texas at the Miss Deaf America pageant this summer.
Leni
If you really disagree with the concept of the Darwin Awards, what in God's name would possess you to even bring up the subject on a thread like this?
That's pretty sick.
She must have been lost in though, because a train makes a lot of vibration.
How can she be walking near a railroad and not be watching?
Boyfriend troubles or family troubles making her less aware maybe?
Sad.
You mean that this might have been a not-completely-conscious suicide? It happens, especially among disabled people.
Whatever the cause, it's a sad story. Prayers for the soul of this young woman.
Well, I'm a fan of the Darwin Awards.
But, given how pretty this girl was, she hardly seems to qualify as a candidate. Darwin Awards are for people who improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it.
Just too sad for words. Prayers for her family and friends.
This can also be a problem with those that have SSD (Single Sided Deafness). My dear husband lost the hearing in his left ear to a brain tumor (acustic neuroma) in 2002.
Being able to hear from only one side has many complications. He cannot hear cars approaching him from the left. This is especially dangerous in a parking lot. Another issue with SSD is that you can hear a sound but you cannot identify the direction of that the sound, so if someone calls his name he cannot tell if they are on his right, left or behind him.
The conditional "if" you state has nothing to do with the "then" you accuse me of. Would you like to re-state your question more carefully?
If you are deaf and you're walking alongside railroad tracks, you're not exercising sound judgement. Pointing that out, isn't exactly a crime, is it?
I am deaf and that is exactly my thoughts too. I am always very cautious when near train tracts, or crossing the street, as most deaf people are. Hope it wasn't suicide. Guess we'll know more of the story in a day or two.
She had everything going for her. Why would she just up and end her life?
Besides, women, even deaf women, don't purposefully get hit by trains or blow their brains out if they're contemplating suicide. They usually gulp down some pills.
I think that you'd be able to feel a train coming. Sounds like a suicide.
The kayaker that camped in a railroad tunnel that was run over by a train recently deserves the award instead!
There's a difference -- retarded people can't help it, just as this woman couldn't help that she couldn't hear the train.
The point of the "Darwin Awards", however, is to boggle at people being so stupid that it's fatal even though they had brains as functional as the rest of us.
The kayaker that camped in a railroad tunnel that was run over by a train recently deserves the award instead!
If you are deaf and you're walking alongside railroad tracks, you're not exercising sound judgement. Pointing that out, isn't exactly a crime, is it?
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