Suicides Up on NJ Rail Lines
Suicides on New Jersey rails are up this year, accounting for 21 of the 27 deaths on the tracks, compared with 16 last year and 13 in the three preceding years. The last death came on Monday when a 39-year-old man stepped in front of a CSX train headed for Newark.
The spike actually reflects a national trend of increased suicides that the Centers for Disease Control revealed this summer.
It’s impossible to say what may be behind the rise in train suicides, but it may simply be a reflection of an apparent increase in suicide in general. A recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the annual suicide rate for people between ages 35 and 64 increased by more than 28 percent from 1999 to 2010.