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Darwin Awards
2007 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Train Surfing

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Martin Kelly Harris was a Danish train surfer, aged 22, who was killed on the evening of 12 May 2007 while surfing an Arriva regional train between Lem and Ringkøbing in western Jutland, Denmark.

Harris had been attending a football match in Herning with friends and was heading home to Ringkøbing. At the last station before Ringkøbing, he suddenly left the train. This puzzled his friends who were not aware he would continue the ride on the roof. On the segment between the two stations, the train passes under two viaducts. Martin Harris was killed at the second (northern) viaduct where the free height is only 74 cm. It has been speculated he may have been aware of the first viaduct but forgot there was a second one. Witnesses didn't notice the dead body on the roof of the train until it passed a road crossing just after Ringkøbing station, and police brought the train to halt before the next station, named Hee.

Harris published several video clips from his train rides and other Jackass-type stunts on YouTube. In September 2005 he was interviewed for the regional TV station TV Midt/Vest about his sport.

He is reportedly the first death victim of train surfing in Denmark.

Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Harris_(train_surfer))

Submitted on 08/27/2007

Submitted by: Henrique Maia
Reference: Politiken.dk - 12 May 2007

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
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>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Maybe Toss: Too Common
Yes, what Harris did was pretty stupid, but we've gotten a number of stories of people riding on tops of trains so I consider this to be too common since there isn't anything outstanding about the incident. Also the reference to the fact that he performed numerous Jackass types of stunts and posted videos of them tends to turn me off of this story. We get so many Jackass inspired submissions that they've become way too common. Thanks for sending this in though, Henrique. We do appreciate it!


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
While we do not wish to encourage train surfing and it has become too common, the fact that he may have known but forgotten about the second viaduct struck me as funny and bizarre enough to consider this fellow for a Darwin Award. Low Bridge! Thanks for sending the story, Henrique!


James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
While this sort of thing really is too common, I am willing to make an exception here. Having had the audacity to make videos and to brag to interviewers about his highly illegal and dangerous exploits, his cockiness finally caused his demise. Mr. "Expert" quite forgot about that second viaduct! :-)


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