SCOTTS (WKZO AM/FM) — The train-pedestrian crash near Scotts on Friday appears to be another case of death by earbuds.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff James Vandyken says they were found at the scene of the woman who was killed by a Canadian National freight train.
If she was wearing the ear-plug like headphones and may not have heard the train bearing down on her from behind at the 36th Street Crossing in Pavilion Township.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deaths have occurred a number of times over the last few years in West Michigan and apparently happens hundreds of times nationally each year because people bike or walk near train tracks listening to music.
It’s a problem that may only be getting worse as technology advances and more people plug into streaming music services with noise cancelling headphones and custom fit ear buds.
Scientists say the music creates a distraction that ties up so much of your brain’s capacity that it leads to a kind of blindness to what is going on around them.
The name of Friday night’s victim has not been released.
