Back in the days when our railway was still a 'full blown' Government department, we used to have to do the site measure ups of all the fatal incidents, for the Coroner's Court. Fortunately, the Fire and Police did the clean up of the human remains.
Later on, in the PC world, the Police took over total control. I'd often get sent to a site, in a hurry, and would grab an assistant (to hold the other end of the tape measure), not telling them what we off to do.... until they saw the train (usually far away in the distance) and Fire, Police, and Ambulance. Not a pretty job, but it had to be done. It is a sensitive topic, I have many friends that have had the unfortunate experience of an on track fatality. One of the worst aspects, is the train nutters who find out they are a driver, then ask if they have had an incident. If that's not bad enough, they then demand to know all the details. If I'm around when this happens, I give the nutter some 'travel advice', to a two word place whos second name is Off.
I have, over the years, often volunteered for the Rail Safety programmes, usually visiting schools and level crossings. Recently, we had large class of pupils assembled at a level crossing, when this idiot member of the public wandered up and crossed the track whilst wearing earphones. I attracted his attention, with various versions of sign language, and he sheepishly removed said impediment, I think the embarrassment was lesson enough. Unfortunately, that is probably the major cause of fatalities today.
