FATAL ACCIDENTS DUE TO TRAIN SURFING IN BERLIN

This study was undertaken for the purpose of analysing under the aspec t of legal medicine, fatal accidents due to train surfing in the local transport system of Berlin (S-Bahn and underground). The period of in vestigation was from 1989 through 1995, with 41 train surfing accident s, among them 18 with fatal outcome. Evaluation included those 14 deat hs which were forensically autopsied. It was based on autopsy records of Berlin-based university institutes (Humboldt University and Free Un iversity) as well as the Brandenburg State Institute of Legal Medicine . Also used were data obtained from the Berlin Transport Police Record . The casualties were aged between 13 and 25 years, most of them betwe en 16 and 20. The male-female gender ratio was 13:1. Accidents occurre d above all in the warmer season of the year, most of them between 20: 00 h and midnight. More than 50% of all cases were affected by alcohol , but centrally acting medicaments or other addictive drugs were not n oticed at all. Most of the fatal accidents occurred to users of the Be rlin S-Bahn network. Older train models were the preferred surfing obj ects due to their structural peculiarities. Collision with close-to-tr ack obstacles and slipping from the train proved to be the major sourc es of danger. An analysis of injuries revealed polytraumatisation but for one exception, with craniocerebral injuries being the most common and severest events. The longest survival time amounted to 24 h. As th e psychosocial causes of high-risk behaviour of adolescents will hardl y be controllable, withdrawal of technical, that is structural design possibilities appears to be the most important approach to prevention of accidents in the future. This demand is met by the new series of th e Berlin S-Bahn. The model of the old series, suitable for surfing, st ill accounts for about 10% of the rolling stock and is to be decommiss ioned in 1998. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reser ved.