Text messaging in deadly train crash?
p2pnet news view | Mobiles:- Doctors in Ontario are worried about drivers using cellphones, but things have gone a stage further in California the US.
There, the state’s “top rail safety regulator” wants an emergency order banning train operators from using cell phones.
The demand follows questions on whether or not a commuter train engineer had been texting before a deadly collision with another train in which 25 people died, says the Associated Press.
The crash, which involved a Metrolink and a Union Pacific freight train, also injured 138.
“Metrolink has blamed its engineer for not heeding a red light signal designed to prevent such wrecks, and the National Transportation Safety Board is reviewing whether the engineer was text messaging,” says the story, going on:
“Investigators did not find a cell phone belonging to Robert Sanchez in the wreckage, but two teenage train buffs who befriended him told KCBS-TV that they received a text message from him a minute before the crash.”
Metrolink has, “blamed its engineer for not heeding a red light signal designed to prevent such wrecks, and the National Transportation Safety Board is reviewing whether the engineer was text messaging, says AP, continuing:
“Kitty Higgins, an NTSB board member, said her agency issued a subpoena Monday to get the engineer’s cell phone records. She said Verizon Wireless has five days to respond to the subpoena request.
“Higgins also said tests at the crash site showed the signals are working properly and there were no obstructions that may have prevented the engineer from seeing the red light.”
“The question is,” story has her asking, “did he see it as red? Did he see it as something else? Did he see it at all?”
drivers using cellphones – Ontario docs on cellphones and driving, September 15, 2008
Associated Press – California seeks train operator cell phone ban, September 16, 2008
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