New York — New York (AP) – I love Ka’von Wooden trains. The 15 -year -old had an encyclopedia with a metro system in New York City and dreamed of becoming a train operator.
Instead, on the morning of December 2022, Ka’von died after he ascended to the surface of the Jerlin tract in Brooklyn and then fell on the paths while heading to the Williamsburg Bridge.
It is one of more than ten New York residents, and many young children, who were killed or severely injured after they fell from speed trains. Other risks include to be crushed between the walls of the train, the tunnel and the electricity through high -voltage metro paths. The history of “Subway Surfing” dates back to a century, but it is nourished by social media.
Early Saturday morning, New York City Police I found two dead girls – The authorities said that ages 12 and 13 – it seems that it was a subway browsing game that was killed. “Getting a subway is not” browsing ” – it is suicide.
The authorities have tried to address the problem in public awareness campaigns – including a new one Grammy Cardi B -During the deployment of drones to capture those looking for excitement in the act. But for some, a more fundamental question is not addressed: Why can children like Ka’von go up to the top of the metro cars in the first place?
“When Kayyon died … literally after two weeks, another child died. And another. This is meaningless,” said his mother, Javonda Maxwell, to Associated Press, saying that transport and law enforcement officials did not do enough. “Why shouldn’t my child be the end?”
Some experts say that making trains more difficult to climb, and training browser is easier to discover with cameras and sensors, can be part of the solution. MTA, which runs the subway system, said it is studying the problem. However, it was not reported after reporting any new broad show of technology or physical barriers that may make it difficult for people to obtain trains.
In June, Crichlow requested a press conference to present a new public awareness campaign that MTA was trying a piece of circular rubber tubes designed to prevent a person from boarding two cars to the top of the train.
He said that he was experimenting between two cars to ensure that it would suit the narrow divergence of the tunnels and that it would not collapse or damage the service or the cyclists.
“So far it seems that the equipment is silent,” he said.
Six people died in browsing the subway trains in the city last year, up from five in 2023.
Tyesha Elcock, the MTA worker who was running the Ka’von train rode on the day he died, among those who believe that more should be done to prevent death.
She said that the first sign of the troubles that day was when the emergency brakes began on the train.
ELCOCK discovered Ka’von’s body between the seventh and eighth train cars. A group of sad adolescents on the train explained what happened. “Did you leave your friend again there?” I asked them.
Another operator said in the opposite direction, Ka’von, on the surface of the train and informed him of the radio. She was due to an incomplete radio service, she did not get the warning.
But she believes that the simplest solution could have saved Kaif’s life: locking doors at the ends of the metro cars. This would cut access to narrow gaps between the train cars, as the subway surfers use hand to lift themselves on the surface.
“Its lock is when we are in service so that people cannot climb and be on top of the train,” Elcook said.
MTA leaders said they are looking into possible ways to prevent subway browsing, including engineering solutions, but the agency refused to provide any of the safety experts in an interview.
In 2023, Richard Devi, then the head of the buses and metro for MTA, said that officials “weigh” the option to lock the doors between cars-which is now only in a handful of trains dating back to the eighties of the last century. But he said that locking the doors “brings its danger.” Some New York residents complained that the corridors lock between the train cars may prevent them from fleeing to another part of the train during the state of emergency.
Under the interrogation of members of the city council and correspondents last year, MTA officials excluded some other physical interventions, including building more barriers to prevent access to tracks, or put covers on gaps between train cars to prevent potential surfers from climbing.
“Listen, you should be able to do the work on the head of a train car,” Jano Liber, CEO of MTA, told a news conference, adding that you cannot “cover the barbed wire.”
MTA asked social media companies to download videos that escaped from Subway Surfing, and informed in June that in 2025, more than 1,800 video clips were dropped.
It is also promoted by public service advertisements that tell people “riding inward and survival”, in the voices of local adolescents, and with the city’s schools, they were issued A comic book under the title Last summer campaign is designed to show the risk of browsing the metro and affecting their loved ones.
More than 300,000 children of New York City School are used to reach the school to and from every day.
New York Police said that the alleged metro surfers arrested increased to 229, up from 135 in the previous year. Most of them were children, at an average age of about 14, according to the police. The youngest was 9 years.
Branislav DimitRijevic, an engineering professor of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the round trains to prevent access to the ceiling will be expensive.
“There are a lot of stories in transportation where things can be fixed, but they cost a lot of money. Then you ask the audience,” Are you ready (paid) to fix this? But your taxes will increase significantly.
Dimitrijevic suggested that MTA be able to install cameras and use artificial intelligence to discover bicycles trying to climb the train. Andrew Albert, a member who is not confined to the MTA board of directors, said he is asking the agency about the reasonable physical sensors, but he did not get a response.
NYPD patrolled the famous surfing methods with field response teams and drones, as it was reported in July that she used it to make 200 rescue operations, most of them teenagers. But the tasks cannot be everywhere at the same time. They also say they are doing home visits to the subway homes they identified.
Trains can not be climbed in some other cities, such as Hong Kong and Dubai, easily. They have simplified bodies, lacking handles outside and do not open between cars.
Some railway systems have resorted to extremist tactics to prevent people from riding over the trains. In Indonesia, railway officials once Installed suspended metal tables To try to deter passengers from riding a train to avoid overcrowding. They also tried to spray the cyclists with red paint and beat them with a place.
MTA has bought some new subway cars that do not have the external gaps exploited by the subway surfers, but it is just a fragment of the number currently, and will not be published on common lines for browsing anytime soon.
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The Associated Press Mark Levy in Harrispurg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.