It's kind of a "yeah both" situation. Safety barriers would be better. But absent them, it's very much you have to be trying to touch the third rail.

Not directly relevant but I remember one time the red line broke down between central and Kendall, and we had to walk back to central. They had these alarm things set up on the third rail all over the place that presumably would light up if they detected current. None of us went anywhere near it regardless.