25 train victims may have died due to text-messaging
It’s bad enough that cell phone and text messaging distractions have meant many fatalities and serious injuries on America’s roads and highways. Now such driver distractions also may be to blame for up to 25 fatalities in a horrendous train collision in California.
A commuter train slammed into a freight train last Friday reportedly due to human error by the commuter train’s engineer, who failed to stop for a red signal. Now authorities are investigating the possibility that the engineer was text messaging to two teenagers — who were train enthusiasts — just before the fatal crash which also took his life.
Metrolink train operators are forbidden from using cell phones or other electronic devices while on duty. Though no cell phone was found in the train’s debris, cell phone records would indicate whether the train operator was using such a device at the time of the crash.
Any single death is a wakeup call that we all must pay greater attention to driving — or even walking, since many pedestrians have been killed when they walked in front of a vehicle while talking on a cell phone or text messaging. But if 25 people in a California train accident died due to a similar mistake, that wakeup call should blare even more loudly.
There’s a time and a place for phoning and text messaging. Operating a vehicle — from a car to a train — or crossing a street on foot are not the proper time and place. It is sheer common sense, but it could be a life saver.
If you or a loved one has suffered due to another’s cell phone distractions or text messaging, a cell phone accident lawyer or train accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates can help.
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[...] ignored clear warnings to stop. He was too busy with what he thought was a more important activity: sending text messages. As a result, the United States suffered its worst train accident in 15 years, with 25 people dead, [...]