Man clings to back of speeding TTC subway train for ridiculous video stunt
The Toronto Transit Commission is once again denouncing such dangerous stunt behaviours as "riding the back of a subway train and filming it for likes" after some guy... well, rode the back of a subway train and filmed it for likes.
"I surfed the back of a subway car in Toronto on Line 2 of the TTC," reads the description of a video posted to the YouTube account ChaseTO on Sunday. "The conductor was less than thrilled when he saw me jump off at the next station."
In the roughly three-and-a-half-minute clip, we see what appears to be a young man standing on the subway platform at Bathurst Station, filming himself with a GoPro camera attached to a selfie stick.
The unidentified daredevil — who unlike some of his predecessors was at least smart enough to blur out his own face — can then be seen jumping down into the subway tracks and running across the eastbound/westbound median.
He hops on to a small yellow stepladder on the back of a stopped train and pans out to show himself hanging from the vehicle. The video stops briefly for the YouTuber to point out that he narrowly avoided being spotted by a rear conductor.
The man does not seem aware that he also survived a brush with death by electrocution: At one point, his foot comes uncomfortably close to the deadly "third rail," which provides trains with the high-voltage electricity they need to run and can easily kill anyone who touches it.
Dude then manages to film himself hanging on to the train with one arm through the tunnel between Bathurst and Spadina Stations.
"As the train stops, the conductor sees me," reads a caption on the video. The man jumps from the ladder onto the platform at Spadina and runs for it as the conductor repeatedly screams "Hey!"
Never once does he stop filming or think to put down the selfie stick, despite the fact that he's also wearing a chest-mounted camera. He plays footage from the second camera after the selfie-style vid, and we see him unnecessarily hopping over the exit turnstyle on his way out of the station.
The whole thing just reeks of like, 2015, but the clip was reportedly filmed earlier this month. It is far from the only stunt video of its kind to emerge in recent years, but does differ slightly from the recent trend of teens walking through subway tunnels for TikTok cred in that this guy actually rode the back of a train that can go up to 88 km/h.
TTC spokesperson Stuart Green says that the video has been turned over to the agency's Transit Special Constables and that an investigation is now underway.
"Riding the back of a subway train and filming it for likes is dangerous and irresponsible," Green tweeted on Monday morning. "It's also illegal... which is how it will be treated."
Descending to track level on a TTC subway line for any reason is considered trespassing and carries with it a potential fine of up to $5,000.
As previously mentioned, it can also lead to horrific injury or death — not a risk most people would consider taking for less than 3,000 views and a measly 52 likes on YouTube.
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