Eh, you just rubbed me the wrong way for criticizing Blue, who works really hard to put out this great comic for free. Yes, there are problems with people acting like fools around vehicles, esp. people who text and drive (NTSB says that’s about as bad as driving drunk).

But neither you criticizing Blue for her fantasy comic, nor my “spitting out bile” is going to improve public education on the matter.

This is quite a bit different from taking a selfie like a moron.

I know folks who work (like, as in get a paycheck) on the rails.

I think they would laugh at your post for being super dramatic.

I know you mean well – but deaths in relation to trains has been an issue ever since they have been around. And unfortunately they will continue to be so – webcomic abotu robots or not.

Well it’s nice that I didn’t teach you anything new, but we’ve had quite a few deadly/traumatic accidents (deadly for the folks on the tracks, traumatic for the engineers) over the last two years or so, due to some sick selfie-on-railroad-tracks fad and the increasing tendency to ignore red lights and to walk/drive around barriers at grade crossings.
So maybe you should go ahead and disseminate your knowledge amongst the youngsters, rather than spitting out bile in a web comic’s comment section.
Dude, if I wanted to brag, I would have signed this with my name and a link to my volunteer org. I don’t need that. I posted because we’re having a real issue here, and my name, my org, has nothing to do with that.
As these deaths and accidents prove, there are quite a few people that don’t/didn’t realize they’re in danger on railway tracks.
In my home state alone, it’s been about 80 incidents last year, luckily, not all of them deadly.

I had gone back and saw that, but I never edited my comment.

Just going for a conspiracy, I guess. :-)

Ty’s breath has been visible before in Chapter 4 while they’ve been outside, but the page has been updated to make this a bit more obvious. I also added some SFX in the last panel.

Herp-dee-derp, I am a mindless reader. I will go stand in front of my city’s light rail, because some fictional characters in a webcomic did it! I’m also gonna try stopping a train with my body and webs just like Spiderman. I have no ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, so all the burden is on the authors I read!

Seriously, didn’t you see the author’s note? “Standing on light rail tracks is never ever a good idea.”

I’m sure you were just so excited to burst out your creds as a “volunteer railroad conductor,” but you really didn’t teach me anything new. No shit, standing in front a massive vehicle with crazy momentum is a bad idea. Those are all robots. They don’t act according to human dictates, and they are much, much stronger than humans.

Ty has no breath. And hasn’t the past few pages. Any theories that include Ty being a robot too?

This is not how you should *ever* try to stop a train or light rail vehicle.
Now, the two on the sides may be robots that are following their first law of robotics overriding the third, but the center character at least *looks* human, and this might actually motivate a real-life human to do something stupid.

Assuming that train/light rail vehicle has a human in charge, standing there will only increase the stress level of that person and can even lead to PTSD. It will not make them stop the vehicle an inch sooner than if they stood next to the tracks and signalled an emergency stop.

All rail vehicles have a ridiculously long stopping distance compared to vehicles with rubber tires running on roads, and it’s not like you have a steering wheel to swerve around an obstacle. So you’re basically telling the poor sap “Here I am, you’re going to run me over and there’s nothing you can do about it, neener!”

If you really need to stop a train from the outside, learn what the appropriate stop gesture is for your country. Usually it’s either the “wigwag” or a hand in a clockwise circular motion (because it looks like a “close throttle valve” gesture when viewed from the operator’s cab), possibly aided by some -preferrably red- object or light source.

And please PLEASE *PLEASE* don’t stand on the tracks, ever. 2 meters/roughly 6 feet away to the sides should be safe for inner-city light rail speeds; for real trains, don’t go any closer than where the ballast (gravel) starts unless you really know what you are doing.

Sincerely,
A Conductor that cares about his fellow Engineers.

But in all seriousness, I love everyone’s expressions in this page, especially the second to last panel. Just you can see the various levels of realization (or lack thereof) there. And the last panel. My heart. Please be okay robo friends.

Not that this isn’t dramatic! It’s just that I’ve seen one too many people pull out in front of these things to think they can’t stop on a dime.