WE ARE a society that has conditioned itself to accepting shocking images with a shrug of the shoulders.

Nothing should surprise us anymore, or so you’d think.

But our front page story today proves that theory wrong.

Just when you imagine you’ve seen every stupid stunt going, along comes one to make you stop.

Placing your head on a railway line is about as reckless as you can get, especially as the youth appears to lie on a high voltage electrified rail.

Had the 750-volt line not been switched off for overnight engineering works, we would almost certainly be reporting about a death ... rather than just a ‘prank’.

Is this foolhardy act just a sign of the times? Is there so little for the youth of today to do that some believe placing yourself in the line of possible death is a worthwhile ‘cheap’ laugh with their mates?

Have they so little regard for their own lives, or those of the train driver and passengers that could also have been involved in a potential tragedy?

And what of the parents of these youths? The time-honoured questions, asked many a time, have to be asked yet again.

Did they know where their kids were that morning?

Lest we forget, the shocking footage was filmed between four and six IN THE MORNING.

Did they ask if they didn’t?

How long before the next act of recklessness is met with the ultimate sacrifice?