Amack
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Texting MBTA Trolley Operator crashes; 49 injured in downtown Boston
- Thread starter Amack
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I have a feeling texting wasn't the only cause of this crash... On a trolley, all you control is throttle and brake. You can't be looking at your phone for such a long time and never glance up to where you can't see another train sitting on the tracks. And if it was around a corner or something where it was blind, then the fault should not lie with the operator fully.
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Amack
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The crash occured underground via the green line tunnel. The operating lay out is as follows: There is a Y-junction that leads into the station. The trolley-train has to come to a complete stop and await a signal change to enter into the junction that leads to the platform. Just before the collision, there was another trollet/train/tram halted at the begining of the junction awaiting clearence to enter the station. The colliding train was on approach, when purportedly the operator of abovementioned train was distracted whilst texting his girlfriend per his statement to MBTA police.
Even if he wasn't looking down for more than a few seconds, (let's say 3 seconds to send off a quick text, or to just glance at a few lines of a recieved message)...a tram can easily cover close to a football field's length in 3 seconds, not to mention the factoring of braking distance of a traveling vessel of such mass.
Regardless, almost a year ago, there was a similar, much more sever train accident caused by another T-operator that prompted a zero-tolerance policy for cellular device use while operating. That policy didn't explicitly prohibit operators from carrying wireless devices on their person, just restricted their use while operating.
Also, the MBTA stated that the operator had been employed for 22-months, sufficient time enough to have been oriented with the MBTA's policy on cell-phone use. So, in any event, regardless of whether or not there was a blind spot of some degree, the precipitating culpable fact is the operation and compromise of public safety, secondary to utilizing a restricted wireless device while operating, which is entirely the operator's fault.