NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Ka\u2019Von Wooden loved trains. The 15-year-old had an encyclopedic knowledge of New York City\u2019s subway system and dreamed of becoming a train operator.<\/p>\n
Instead, on a December morning in 2022, Ka\u2019Von died after he climbed onto the roof of a moving J train in Brooklyn and then fell onto the tracks as it headed onto the Williamsburg Bridge.<\/p>\n
He is one of more than a dozen New Yorkers, including two girls who died over the weekend, who have been killed or badly injured after falling off speeding trains. Other risks include being crushed between the train and tunnel walls and being electrocuted by high-voltage subway tracks. <\/p>\n
\u201cSubway surfing\u201d dates back a century, but it has been fueled by social media. Many of the victims have been youths. <\/p>\n
Latest tragedy<\/p>\n
Early Saturday morning, New York City police found two girls dead \u2014 ages 12 and 13 \u2014 in what apparently was a subway surfing game that turned fatal, authorities said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority President Demetrius Crichlow said in a statement that \u201cgetting on top of a subway car isn\u2019t \u2018surfing\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities have tried to address the problem with public awareness campaigns \u2014 including a new one featuring Grammy Award-winning rapper Cardi B<\/a> \u2014 and by deploying drones to catch thrill-seekers in the act. But for some, a more fundamental question is not being addressed: Why are kids like Ka\u2019Von able to climb on top of subway cars in the first place?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Ka\u2019Von died … literally two weeks later, another child died. And another one. That makes no sense,\u201d his mother, Y\u2019Vonda Maxwell, told the Associated Press, saying transit and law enforcement officials haven\u2019t done enough. \u201cWhy should my child have not been the end?\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing the problem<\/p>\n Making trains harder to climb \u2014 and train surfers more easy to detect with cameras and sensors \u2014 could be part of the solution, some experts say. The MTA, which operates the subway system, has said it is studying the issue. But it has yet to report any broad new rollout of technology or physical barriers that might make it harder for people to get on top of trains.<\/p>\n In June, Crichlow said at a news conference introducing a new public awareness campaign that the MTA was experimenting with pieces of circular rubber tubing designed to prevent a person from being able to climb between two cars to the top of a train. <\/p>\n It was being piloted to make sure it would fit into the tight spacing of the tunnels and wouldn\u2019t break down or harm service or riders, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far the equipment seems to be holding up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Tragic pattern<\/p>\n Six people died surfing subway trains in the city last year, up from five in 2023.<\/p>\n Tyesha Elcock, the MTA worker who operated the train Ka\u2019Von rode the day he died, is among those who thinks more should be done to prevent deaths.<\/p>\n The first sign of trouble that day was when the train\u2019s emergency brake kicked in, she said.<\/p>\n Elcock discovered Ka\u2019Von\u2019s body between the train\u2019s seventh and eighth cars. A group of sad-faced teens on the train made it clear what had happened. \u201cDid y\u2019all leave your friend back there?\u201d she asked them.<\/p>\n Elcock said another operator traveling in the opposite direction saw Ka\u2019Von on the train\u2019s roof and reported it over a radio. Because of patchy radio service, she said, she didn\u2019t get the warning.<\/p>\n But she thinks an even simpler solution could have saved Ka\u2019Von\u2019s life: locking the doors at the ends of subway cars. That would cut off access to the narrow gaps between train cars where subway surfers use handholds to hoist themselves onto the roof.<\/p>\n \u201cLock it when we\u2019re in service so people can\u2019t climb up and be on top of the train,\u201d Elcock said.<\/p>\n The MTA\u2019s leaders have said they are looking into possible ways to prevent subway surfing, including engineering solutions, but the agency declined to make any of its safety experts available for an interview.<\/p>\n In 2023, Richard Davey, then the head of buses and subways for the MTA, said officials were weighing the option of locking doors between cars \u2014 which is now done only on a handful of 1980s-era trains. But he said that locking the doors \u201cbrings its own risk.\u201d Some New Yorkers have complained that locking the passageways between train cars might prevent them from escaping to another part of the train during an emergency.<\/p>\n Under questioning from City Council members and reporters last year, MTA officials ruled out some other physical interventions, including building more barriers to prevent access to tracks, or putting covers over the gaps between train cars to prevent would-be surfers from climbing up.<\/p>\n \u201cListen, you have to be able to do work on top of a train car,\u201d MTA Chief Executive Janno Lieber said at a news conference, adding that you can\u2019t \u201ccover it with barbed wire.\u201d<\/p>\n The MTA has asked social media companies to take down videos glamorizing subway surfing, and reported in June that more than 1,800 videos had been taken down this year. <\/p>\n