Probably way more than 5% more with trains, because it’s not all that easy to get run over by a train 
When I was 13, in the UK, I was building pirate radio transmitters, and the 700V DC from the rail would have been handy for powering the 2 × 807 valve output stage. We decided it was a bit too risky
Indochine wrote:
Don’t the police investigate all unexplained deaths? I’m not sure how much can be inferred from the phrase “criminal investigation”.
In some (many?) jurisdictions, the police can’t start an investigation unless a crime is suspected so in many cases they initially suspect a crime even though there is (at that point) no reason to believe that there has been one, just to be able to investigate.
Peter wrote:
Probably way more than 5% more with trains, because it’s not all that easy to get run over by a train
It’s easier than you may think. There are lots of people who don’t realise the dangers of crossing tracks where it is “convenient”. Outside the UK, having an electrified third rail is very unusual except for metros and the like so there is no obvious constant danger.
(I have actually personally carried out an accident investigation of a person being killed by a train. There were initially not entirely unreasonable speculations that it was a medically motivated suicide, but the investigation showed that it was most likely just a case of carelessness, possibly caused by cognitive function being affected by old age.)
Peter wrote:
From what I’ve read, the Swiss option is pretty unpleasant, because you basically die of suffocation.
My understanding is the feeling of suffocation comes from the quantity of CO2 in the air, not the lack of O2. My understanding is a pure NO2 atmosphere (that’s what the Swiss use, isn’t it?) is hypoxia: happiness, giggles and blackout.
lionel wrote:
My understanding is the feeling of suffocation comes from the quantity of CO2 in the air, not the lack of O2.
At least the breathing reflex is triggered by CO2 levels in the blood. That’s why you can pass out after hyperventilating unless you breathe consciously. You reduce the CO2 levels so much that the oxygen in the blood runs out before the CO2 levels rise enough to trigger breathing.
I know of someone who committed suicide using a nitrogen cylinder (a client of one of my instructors – apparently he’d fallen foul of the IRS and took this way out). It’s said that it is not unpleasant at all, you just fall asleep from hypoxia. (Not sure who was around to report that though).
