Cellphone Ban After Boston Trolley Crash

[thelakelander]

KATIE ZEZIMA and LIZ ROBBINS
Published: May 9, 2009

BOSTON â€" The chief of the Boston area’s transit authority said on Saturday that he would prohibit train, bus and trolley operators from carrying cellphones and other personal electronic devices while working.

The announcement of the policy change came a day after the authorities said that a 24-year-old trolley operator ran a red light while he was text messaging and crashed into another trolley, injuring 49 people.

“They’re not to have it on their person,” Daniel A. Grabauskas, the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said of the devices. “They’re not to bring it in the cab of the train or on board the bus. They’re to leave it at home, leave it in their car, leave it in their locker or leave it with someone else”

Mr. Grabauskas said that under the policy change, operators who were found with cellphones or other personal electronic devices while on duty would be dismissed immediately.

The chief of the transit workers’ union, Stephan G. MacDougall, said he supported the move.

“In our field of expertise, to deliver safe public transportation, it’s clear that embracing a policy that prohibits even possessing a phone while operating a vehicle is not just appropriate, it’s good public policy that’s in the best public interest,” said Mr. MacDougall, the president of the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589.

Under current rules, Boston transit employees are prohibited from talking or texting on cellphones while working, a policy in effect in many other places.

But Mr. Grabauskas’s proposal would be one of the most restrictive bans on cellphone use by transit workers in the nation, including California, where 25 people were killed and 135 injured last September when the engineer of a Los Angeles commuter train collided with a freight train moments after sending a text message.

James A. Aloisi Jr., the Massachusetts secretary of transportation, said he agreed with the rule change.

“We have to be really firm and say ‘you can’t have them’ because for some people the risk and temptation of using them is too great,” Mr. Aloisi said.

The accident occurred at 7:17 p.m. Friday as many people were heading home from work or to Fenway Park for a game between the Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Mr. Grabauskas said that the operator of the trolley, which was outbound on the Green line from the Government Center station in downtown Boston, admitted to the authorities that he was text messaging his girlfriend at the time he rear-ended a trolley that had stopped.

“He was looking down at his phone,” Mr. Grabauskas said. “He noticed red lights, looked up, attempted to apply the brake, and it was too late. He struck a train that was stopped at a red signal.”

Forty-nine of the 124 passengers aboard the two trains were taken to hospitals, where they were treated for minor injuries, Mr. Grabauskas said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/us/10boston.html?ref=us

[Ocklawaha]

Lake Boston has no choice, this one bonehead has brought down the wrath of not only the MTA, but much worse, MADOT, NTSB and the FTA... In Railroadese or Transitese, GOD HAS SPOKEN! Because those last two can shut you down in a heart beat. I feel for the director as he is going to catch hell for this.

OCKLAWAHA

[brainstormer]

Wouldn't it be proactive to ban cell phones for JTA drivers?  I've always felt that it was dangerous for someone driving a bus with many passengers to be talking on a cell phone.  I also wish the School Board would ban all of their bus companies under contract from allowing their drivers to be on the phone.  It isn't needed.  If something happens they have their radios to call it in.  Personally as someone who rides the bus every once in awhile, it would be great if they banned talking on the cell phone for passengers too.  Texting would be allowed.  It's just annoying to listen to people argue with their boyfriends! 

[JeffreyS]

Banned for the drivers yes but for the passengers just some signage about being considerate with cell phone usage would suffice.

[BridgeTroll]

Jta buses, school buses, police officers, any city, county or state vehicle operators should be banned from cell phone use while driving.  This is simple common sense.

I would ban them for all drivers but that would be unenforceable.

[Springfielder]

They have strengthened the seat belt law here, but they do nothing about the cell phones, which I feel has caused more problems. I feel that there should be a severe fine for anyone caught on a cell phone or texting while driving. It's a distraction, plain and simple

[BridgeTroll]

No doubt springfielder.... I agree completely, but in a city where enforcement of stop sign and stop light violators seems impossible I have a hard time seeing them enforcing seatbelt laws much less cells and texting.  I think these things are surpassing drunks as the most efficient killers on the roads...

[Springfielder]

Couldn't agree more, most traffic violations are ignored, including speeding....JSO is just as quilty as the rest of those violators

[mtraininjax]

I would ban them for all drivers but that would be unenforceable.

Why? Police can now pull you over for not wearing a seat belt and its a LOT harder to spot someone not wearing the belt than it is to see some idiot talking on the phone with one hand and sitting in the left lane without a care in the world. Those people deserve a handful of pennies on their car.

[BridgeTroll]

Police can now pull you over for not wearing a seat belt

They can pull you over for running red lights too... They just dont.

[mtraininjax]

They can pull you over for running red lights too... They just dont

They don't advertise that they can pull you over for running a red light, they do for seat belt violation. The number of people who die from not wearing a seat belt is much higher than those who do for running the red light.