In mid-September of this year, a train collision in Washington D.C killed 26 people and left dozens of others injured. You may ask, how can something like this happen in this day and age? Aren't the trains run so methodically and mechanically that a crash or collision would be impossible? Well, it turns out that the trains on the railroad are controlled and coordinated by human conductors much more than we may think. Conductors have the responsibility of not only stopping and starting the train from a scheduled stop, but have the responsibility of making sure that trains run on the correct track and obviously do not cross paths with another train.
The problem comes in when these, although experienced, conductors become distracted with other immensely important, life or death tasks... for example texting. The conductor who murdered 26 people had run a stop signal because he was "allegedly" texting, with his eyes completely removed from the tracks, while driving the train. The cause of the deadliest train crash in 16 years has come from a method of communication that had not even existed when the last crash occurred.
CBS Station KCAL correspondent Kristine Lazar reported exclusively that one minute before the crash, a teenager received a text message on his cell phone from the engineer, whom friends identified as Robert Sanchez. It is clear that whether or not the conductor had received or sent a text at the moment of impact, what is a fact is that he was distracted moments before.. at the time when he could have seen the stop signal or pulled the emergency break.. or even called the dispatcher to re-route his train or the other train.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/15/national/main4449292.shtml
This is tragic. I'm glad that states are finally stepping up and writing policy to make this sort of thing illegal, but I think it's coming far too late. Distracted driving is bad enough for individuals; shouldn't we at least be able to trust the people who make a career out of transporting others?
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