Woman plummets onto subway tracks while carelessly texting

Granted, texting just might be bigger than Hollywood these days, but bigger than concern for one's own life? Apparently a Kawanishi woman was taking her well-being for granted during her daily route to work, as she collided with a man in a subway station whilst texting away at 8:30 in the morning. Subsequently, she plummeted a few feet down onto the subway tracks, only to be saved by a station worker who fearlessly hopped down to rescue her SMS-focused mind (and body, too) as the oncoming train screeched to a halt just 20 meters before running her over. Thankfully, the dame suffered just minor injuries in the fall, but an estimated 4,500 employees were blaming her for holding up their progress when clocking in late. Notably, there was no word on whether or not the phone was saved, or more importantly, whether or not the presumably urgent SMS ever got sent -- but considering this is the second case in a matter of days in which a human being nearly lost their life to a cellphone, we beg you: text responsibly, dear friends.

[Via TokyoMango]

[GhostDoggy @ Feb 20th 2007 5:45AM]

We call this a modern example of natural selection. Stupid shows up in a lot of places.

[ph @ Feb 20th 2007 7:44AM]

"We call this a modern example of natural selection. Stupid shows up in a lot of places."

Umm, she almost died. And all you can say is this is natural selection? Hopefully she (and others like her) will learn from experiences like this.

[Nathan M @ Feb 20th 2007 8:09AM]

But she didn't die, which means we can laugh. Hooray! :P

[A @ Feb 20th 2007 6:14AM]

GhostDoggy....I dunno what was funnier, the story or your response...lol.

[msafi @ Feb 20th 2007 6:46AM]

i hope they don't start regulating our txt'ing habits.

[jmg @ Feb 20th 2007 7:35AM]

Reminds me of the woman who hit my car because she didn't saw me brake because she was writing 'urgent' SMS to tell her daughter where the food was in the fridge.

Darwin's making his way through technology...

[rpgSE.com @ Feb 20th 2007 1:16PM]

when is the personal assistant voice recognition bluetooth auto texter 3000 coming out?

[Ignacio @ Feb 20th 2007 7:53AM]

A good thing the guard wasn't a Gantz fan...

[dj @ Feb 20th 2007 11:28AM]

It's too bad, for Darwin's sake, that she survived.

[luminos @ Mar 4th 2007 2:42AM]

Incidentally, the pic is of a metro station in Korea, Hwajong Station of Seoul Metro line 3 infact, unless i'm much mistaken

[chris @ Feb 20th 2007 8:47AM]

If she died it would be sad... but equally as sad would be that it was her own fault. Stupid is as stupid dies. Imagine if she were driving a car? Who would save YOU from her?

[LennyMan @ Feb 20th 2007 9:34AM]

Here in old Blighty, its now illegal to even *hold* a phone whilst driving your car... 3 points and £60 fine from March 1st!

As Chris said; What if she was driving a car at the time...

[jon @ Feb 20th 2007 9:31AM]

suicide club.

[Fizical @ Feb 20th 2007 11:21AM]

as a japan resident i can tell you emailing (not SMS, just doesn't get used here) is almost at crazy levels. people riding bikes with umbrella in one hand and holding the handle bar while the other hand is busy emailing it just a common example you will see. hell i even email while skateboarding. calls are very rare in japan and since at stations and on trains you are not allowed to use phones, people email like crazy. it is normal to find many travellers spend their entire trip emailing. it is pretty easy to get caught up in it because some of these emails you get are long and interesting that you forget what you are doing.

[Jeff @ Feb 20th 2007 10:08AM]

The truth is, people trip and fall all the time. Occasionally, though thankfully a lot less frequently, people trip and fall into very dangerous places. My point is that people were falling onto train tracks (above ground and below) for countless years before texting was invented. Now, as more and more people use text messages, more and more people will wind up doing the same things they used to do WHILE sending text messages. SMS almost led to THIS woman's demise, but it just as easily could've been anything else, and the only difference is that if it had been, we never would've heard about it.

The real focus of this story should've been the maintance worker who risked his own life to save hers.

[Sam @ Feb 20th 2007 10:42AM]

Japanese cellphones don't use SMS.

[Roy @ Feb 20th 2007 4:37PM]

I was going to make this comment too. Japanese cellphone use regular email not SMS.

[Tim UF @ Feb 20th 2007 10:44AM]

Honestly, if i was on that train, and saw the woman who caused the hold up later on wandering blindly while texting, i would be hard pressed not to rip the phone from her hands and launch it into the first available wall.

[Karl Viklund @ Feb 20th 2007 10:52AM]

Totally without responsibility. Well, she really got a wake-up call and I can promise she won't do that again. This ended well but it always take one or a few serious accidents before people wake up.

[roxie @ Feb 26th 2007 8:46PM]

I instantly knew she had to be Japanese when I read the article's title.

[Greenline @ Feb 20th 2007 12:01PM]

This doesn't helps the "no ipods while crossing the street arguement"

[badnegro @ Feb 20th 2007 11:34AM]

@chris
"Stupid is as stupid dies."

Nice use of the pun!!!

[Peter Payne @ Feb 20th 2007 11:42AM]

Ye gods, and the day AFTER I blogged about how silly all the safety messages in Japan were, specifically stating that the "please stand behind the yellow line" messages on train platforms were annoying.

Link to my post:

http://www.peterpayne.net/2007/02/japan-as-land-of-safety-small.html

Glad she was alright.

[encoree @ Feb 20th 2007 12:51PM]

It looks like Seoul Subway not Tokyo.

[Erik @ Feb 20th 2007 6:30PM]

It's definately Seoul and not Tokyo in the picture.

[ph @ Feb 20th 2007 1:11PM]

I get low ranked for caring for other people?

Whatever. I was not condoning her actions, just saying I find it hard to believe people are joking about someone almost dying. If she was reading this blog, how would she feel, knowing she almost died?

[dj @ Feb 21st 2007 7:31AM]

Hopefully stupid, since she is.

[Vexorg @ Feb 20th 2007 1:43PM]

IV FLLN & I CNT GT P!

[gemikid @ Feb 20th 2007 3:14PM]

Two words. Natural selection.

[Jakemaca @ Feb 20th 2007 5:05PM]

If this happened to the lady but instead of texting she was reading a letter given to her, would anyone be making a deal out of it?

[dj @ Feb 21st 2007 7:33AM]

That ^ was a reply to this:
"If she was reading this blog, how would she feel, knowing she almost died?"