Metrolink already prohibits the use of cell phones and other electronic communication equipment by its engineers on duty. Sadly, the engineer on Metrolink 111 ignored that rule and many good people were killed and more were hurt. Whether he was actually texting at the time of the accident is not really irrelevant. What really matters is that his attention, like that of automobile drivers who continue to use cell phones without hands-free devices in violation of the law, was distracted and elsewhere.
Driving a train, like driving a car, requires the full attention of the driver to the task at hand. That requires a personal commitment to follow the rules established by the employer, the government and plain old common sense.
Ditto all that TR. The simple fact is that people in this country have developed a an immediate self-gratification attitude and lack the discipline and personal responsibility to focus on what they’re supposed to do. There is NOTHING so important that anyone, train engineers or automobile drivers have to say that they entertain and distract themselves from their primary responsibility of watching where they’re going. Sure, there could always be “idiot proof” electronic signals. But isn’t it funny this never happened before? Maybe the only intervening stupidity factor was the moron engineer.
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Metrolink already prohibits the use of cell phones and other electronic communication equipment by its engineers on duty. Sadly, the engineer on Metrolink 111 ignored that rule and many good people were killed and more were hurt. Whether he was actually texting at the time of the accident is not really irrelevant. What really matters is that his attention, like that of automobile drivers who continue to use cell phones without hands-free devices in violation of the law, was distracted and elsewhere.
Driving a train, like driving a car, requires the full attention of the driver to the task at hand. That requires a personal commitment to follow the rules established by the employer, the government and plain old common sense.
Ditto all that TR. The simple fact is that people in this country have developed a an immediate self-gratification attitude and lack the discipline and personal responsibility to focus on what they’re supposed to do. There is NOTHING so important that anyone, train engineers or automobile drivers have to say that they entertain and distract themselves from their primary responsibility of watching where they’re going. Sure, there could always be “idiot proof” electronic signals. But isn’t it funny this never happened before? Maybe the only intervening stupidity factor was the moron engineer.