The operator of a Green Line trolley that slammed into a train stopped at Government Center was apparently text messaging his girlfriend when the crash happened, said MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskus.
“Two detectives have interviewed the operator of the train in the hospital and in the course of that interview he admitted to texting at the time of the crash,” Grabauskus said. The crash happened in a tunnel between Government Center and Park Street stations, sending more than 40 people to area hospitals with cuts, head wounds, and neck and back injuries. None of the injuries was life threatening.
The most seriously injured person was the texting operator of the bullet trolley. He was able to walk out and was taken to a hospital in stable condition. The cars were damaged at the point of impact, but bounced off one another and were still upright when emergency crews went aboard. Boston Fire Department District Chief Richard DiBenedetto said the crash occured about 7:20 p.m. Because of the number of people on board the trains and a few trapped inside the cars, he called for a second alarm, he said.
Boston EMS Deputy Superintendent John Gill said many of the wounded were able to walk out of the cars, but about 40 people were placed on backboards and carried to the surface by EMTs and firefighters. The injured were laid side by side on City Hall Plaza and triaged by emergency crews while music blared from inside the Big Top Circus – also in the plaza – which was putting on its nightly show. Last May the operator of a Green Line trolley that crashed in Newton was killed while several passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries. Passengers in that crash reported her using a cell phone prior to the crash, however prosecutors said there was no evidence it contributed to the collision.
Currently, drivers are allowed to carry cell phones but are penalized for using them while on duty with three-, 10- and 30-day suspensions, ending in termination.
I have an idea, since these idiots can’t seem to act responsibly, how about banning cellphones from the cockpit of all transportation, public and private.
Honey, I just fucked up!
Or this bus driver… the list goes on and on…
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2009/04/texting_texas_bus_driver_caugh.html
Let’s see….Talking on cell phone – eyes work fine. Texting on cell phone – can’t see the road… I just don’t get “texting”. That’s what a nice computer is for—typing email. Phones are for TALKING. VOICE mail, get it? But tweeting is so fucking cool. Have to TWEET, Bertha. Just HAVE to TWEET.
Watched a highway cop, today, pull over a guy texting while driving his Lexus. He almost drove into my drivers side door, at a highway on-ramp. He was still texting while the officer was speaking to him.
Government Center and Park Street stops at rush hour too. I always hated the fucking Green Line.
This is the second time in 6 months (or so) that this has happened to MBTA here in Boston. The last time it happened, the conductor died.
Those trains are too slow to cause damage. I’ve been hit by one just turning around from looking at the map.
Last SMS: Oh, shit
So quick to call for laws to regulate human stupidity, why? I suggest we shut off all cell service nation-wide and see how many deaths are reported. Just for one week, for comparison’s sake.
already banned in Honolulu – http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090423_Cell-phone_ban_OKd.html
Well at least the passengers were able to walk away from this. I wouldn’t want to be on some plane, when the pilot decided to keep texting during a landing. And, how do we know this hasn’t already happened? The that plane crashed short of Pittsburgh, sounded mighty suspicious.
I don’t do texting. Nor have I ever been one of those CB radio nuts (another obsession I never could understood). But I think I may get what texting is about for these people. Some years ago, a few people I knew were employed at a scifi convention as security staff. And they walked around with those little radio mics and earpieces, all day. I asked one of them what that was like. And he related to me that one got a bit hooked with the communal thought process. All the security staff, chatting away to each other over the radio mics, everything that came to mind. So I’m thinking that maybe Twittering is something like that. And Twitter addicts need to be connected to others thoughts. Even when doing a potentially dangerous job, that requires their full attention.
It’s like an addiction of words. They type something. Someone they know almost immediately responds back. As long as its too convenient to do so, they can’t stop themselves from doing it. The thing is with pilots and train operators. They’re being paid to give their job their full attention. And if they’re recreating by texting, or reading a novel, or listening to MP3s. Well then they are fulfilling their job’s requirements. They’re not being paid to occasionally pilot the craft, when they’re not too busy having fun!
Sign of the times and the economy
Maybe the trolley driver was text messaging his bank about the foreclosure of his mortgage