Children playing mobile chicken
LONDON: Children are using mobile phone cameras to film themselves playing "chicken" on railway lines in front of high-speed trains, British police say.
Children as young as 10 stand on the tracks as the trains approach, and leap clear at the last moment.
Their friends record the stunt using the latest mobile-phone technology. The craze, inspired by a video clip on the internet, has already killed one teenage girl in the US.
The video clip inspiring "mobile-phone chicken", as it is known, is receiving thousands of hits from around the world.
The footage shows a youth racing on to a railway line as a train approaches at full speed. He crouches on the tracks, waving his arms and, as death appears inevitable, leaps clear at the very last second.
The death in the US, four months ago, occurred in California when Celadonia Castro, 14, was hit as she tried to push a 15-year-old boy clear of an approaching train. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Lee Mullis, 14, and his friend Stuart Adams, 15, were killed in England in March when a train ploughed into them. British Transport Police said the boys had apparently been train-dodging, although there was no suggestion the incident was being filmed.
Also in March, the father of another English boy reported his son to police after he found a video on his mobile phone of his son dodging a train.
The footage showed the boy, 14, sitting on the tracks as a train headed towards him at 120km/h. The boy and his friend -- who was filming him -- were given a caution.
In the past three months, British Transport Police have recorded 12 separate reports of children playing "chicken" on railway tracks in northeast England.
A near-miss was reported in North Tyneside when a train driver saw a youth dodging a train near a level crossing.
When police questioned children near the scene, they found they had the internet video stored on their phones, downloaded from the web.
In another incident, children as young as 10 were seen playing on a level crossing in Northumberland on April 4.
Vicki Smith, a spokeswoman for Network Rail, said: "Playing chicken is dangerous. The train always wins. If there's people videoing it as well, there's an added distraction."
Train drivers, who regularly have to deal with the traumatic effects of suicides on the line, say the "chicken" incidents are causing huge amounts of stress.
One, Tosh McDonald, said: "Even if no one is hurt, this kind of thing can cause enormous stress for a driver. When you're travelling at 120mph (193km/h) it is stressful to see a kid standing right in front of you."
I love trains though, although I agree - I hate crossings. I never stop on the rail on those even though they're not electric heh.
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