People Had to Die Before a Move on Cellphones, Official Laments
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
The chairwoman of a federal inquiry into a deadly train crash in California said Wednesday that it was unacceptable that 25 people had to die before federal regulators clamped down further on the use of cellphones by train operators.
“To lose 25 lives in order to essentially take action on something that we’ve known has been a problem for years, that we see as a growing problem — this technology in the scheme of things is relatively new, but it’s ubiquitous, it’s everywhere,” Kathryn O’Leary Higgins, chairwoman of a panel of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in the second of two days of testimony. As Ms. Higgins spoke, a cellphone rang in the hearing room; the hearing, in Washington, was shown live in a Web cast.
The panel is examining the causes of a crash in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles on Sept. 12, when a Metrolink commuter train sped past a red signal light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135. The panel’s report is due out later this year.
The engineer of the commuter train, who was killed in the crash, had been using his cellphone, sending text messages and making arrangements to allow a rail buff to operate the train later that day. The conductor of the freight train — who was not operating that train — was also using his cellphone. He also tested positive for marijuana.
Ms. Higgins said four major violations of rules had occurred before the crash, involving cellphones, drug use, the failure to verbally confirm the light signals and the possibility of unauthorized passengers in the train’s cab.
“Four rules were violated,” she said, “and I’m trying to understand who has the ability to enforce what.”
Federal regulators imposed a no-cellphone rule after the crash, but the hearing brought to light how difficult that rule is to enforce. Regulators and rail officials described a complex web of jurisdictions and authority that seemed to create cracks in the system and that at times left no one with authority.
“It’s too easy, many times, to say, ‘Well, it’s not really enforceable,’ and yet you look at what your inspectors have done in a relatively short period of time when they went out and looked” for cellphone violations, Ms. Higgins said. “And guess what? It’s everywhere.”
The hearing also brought to light a conflict in how to enforce the no-cellphone ban. Metrolink is planning to install video cameras that face into the cabs of locomotives, but union officials representing train workers testified that they opposed such cameras on the grounds of privacy.
The officials said they could accept outward-facing cameras, which would monitor the tracks, for example, but instead of inward-facing cameras, they suggested having a second person in the cab.
“We don’t support any recording or video devices in a cab,” said William Walpert, national secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
Mr. Walpert and J. R. Cumby of the United Transportation Union said cameras would not deter accidents because crew members would be doing their jobs regardless of whether they were being watched.
In typical union fashion, hire more useless turds to sit around and do nothing. What I would like to know is what right to privacy do these fuckers have. It's a public rail system, paid for by the taxpayers.
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
The chairwoman of a federal inquiry into a deadly train crash in California said Wednesday that it was unacceptable that 25 people had to die before federal regulators clamped down further on the use of cellphones by train operators.
“To lose 25 lives in order to essentially take action on something that we’ve known has been a problem for years, that we see as a growing problem — this technology in the scheme of things is relatively new, but it’s ubiquitous, it’s everywhere,” Kathryn O’Leary Higgins, chairwoman of a panel of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in the second of two days of testimony. As Ms. Higgins spoke, a cellphone rang in the hearing room; the hearing, in Washington, was shown live in a Web cast.
The panel is examining the causes of a crash in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles on Sept. 12, when a Metrolink commuter train sped past a red signal light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135. The panel’s report is due out later this year.
The engineer of the commuter train, who was killed in the crash, had been using his cellphone, sending text messages and making arrangements to allow a rail buff to operate the train later that day. The conductor of the freight train — who was not operating that train — was also using his cellphone. He also tested positive for marijuana.
Ms. Higgins said four major violations of rules had occurred before the crash, involving cellphones, drug use, the failure to verbally confirm the light signals and the possibility of unauthorized passengers in the train’s cab.
“Four rules were violated,” she said, “and I’m trying to understand who has the ability to enforce what.”
Federal regulators imposed a no-cellphone rule after the crash, but the hearing brought to light how difficult that rule is to enforce. Regulators and rail officials described a complex web of jurisdictions and authority that seemed to create cracks in the system and that at times left no one with authority.
“It’s too easy, many times, to say, ‘Well, it’s not really enforceable,’ and yet you look at what your inspectors have done in a relatively short period of time when they went out and looked” for cellphone violations, Ms. Higgins said. “And guess what? It’s everywhere.”
The hearing also brought to light a conflict in how to enforce the no-cellphone ban. Metrolink is planning to install video cameras that face into the cabs of locomotives, but union officials representing train workers testified that they opposed such cameras on the grounds of privacy.
The officials said they could accept outward-facing cameras, which would monitor the tracks, for example, but instead of inward-facing cameras, they suggested having a second person in the cab.
“We don’t support any recording or video devices in a cab,” said William Walpert, national secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
Mr. Walpert and J. R. Cumby of the United Transportation Union said cameras would not deter accidents because crew members would be doing their jobs regardless of whether they were being watched.
In typical union fashion, hire more useless turds to sit around and do nothing. What I would like to know is what right to privacy do these fuckers have. It's a public rail system, paid for by the taxpayers.
