Subway surfing has become an increasingly deadly trend worldwide. Incidents, arrests, and even fatalities have surged in recent years.
Subway surfing, the act of riding on top or outside of moving trains, has gained attention, particularly in New York City (NYC), where on October 4, two teenage girls were found unconscious on the roof of a subway car.
Officials discovered the girls after responding to a 911 call at 3 A.M., and was reported that they appeared to be subway surfing. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.
“It’s heartbreaking that two young girls are gone because they somehow thought riding outside a subway train was an acceptable game,” said Demetrius Crichlow, the president of NYC Transit.
This trend is not something new. Subway surfing has been present for years and has lately become more prevalent due to its spread through social media.
Videos related to train riding or subway surfing have gained millions of views on the internet, showing people filming themselves balancing on the moving train cars.
Watching those videos, as people appear effortless on camera, authorities note that many teens fail to recognize and underestimate the extreme danger of electrical hazards and instability of subway cars. It creates a false sense of safety that leads others to believe that they themselves can take part in such trends.
While certain media platforms have worked to remove those clips and unsafe content, new videos continue to resurface and influence young adults and children.
A review of surfing incidents has found 18 reports of deaths by subway surfing in New York City from 2023-2024 alone.
There have also been additional rescues made by officials to stop subway surfers from trains before anything dangerous happens.
Crichlow continued, “Parents, teachers, and friends need to be clear with loved ones: getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’- it’s suicide. I’m thinking of both the grieving families and transit workers who discovered these children, all of whom have been horribly shaken by this tragedy”.
Some experts have connected this trend to influences from the mobile game, “Subway Surfers”, a simulation of running on subway tracks, and its popularity along with exposure on social media have led them to believe it may contribute to the activity’s spread.
Seeking online fame, teenagers follow what begins as harmless trends, only for them to spiral into dangerous trends like subway surfing that have proven to be fatal.
Transit officials are continuing to patrol around stations and increase surveillance to prevent future incidents. They have even started flying drones over the subway trains to catch people in the act.
Authorities and even big artists like Cardi B. have begun to launch campaigns to raise public awareness regarding subway surfing.
The trend of subway surfing does not solely exist in New York; it is a global issue. Other cities like Berlin and Melbourne have also reported similar cases. Dozens of arrests have been made in Paris tied to train-riding stunts, and already, warnings have been made echoing New York’s.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York and the New York Police Department have reiterated that no online trend or challenge is worth risking a life for.