Two more unnecessary disasters occurred on Friday involving public transportation. In a story that I referred to in Friday's Liberal News and Commentary, 141 people were injured when two CTA "L" trains (rapid transit trains of the Chicago Transit Authority, which are elevated about twenty feet above the street) collided at 9:00 Chicago Time on Friday morning. Then, just eight hours later, at 12:15 PM Hawaii Time, a tour bus went into a ditch on a road southwest of Hilo, causing injuries to all eighteen passengers that were on the bus. When are we going to require seat belts on public transportation?
There were about 600 people on each of the two CTA trains. Both trains were on the same track and heading in the same direction. One train was traveling at between 6 and 15 mph when it crashed into the train in front of it, which was stopped at the time. There are no seat belts on CTA rapid transit trains. Despite the slow speed, witness said that many people went flying through the train. The impact of the crash was severe enough that the very heavy window at the front of one car was cracked when a woman's head slammed into it.
CTA rapid transit service is extremely safe, as far as the potential for collisions or derailments go. The tracks are carefully and regularly maintained. Service intervals are generally three to seven minutes, so there is very little time between trains for the tracks to become dislodged, leading to derailment. There are very few grade crossings (where cars, busses and trucks cross the tracks). The few grade crossings that do exist are near the ends of the lines where, in most cases, the trains come to a complete stop before entering the intersection with the gates down. Otherwise, for the most part, the lines run either elevated two to three stories above the street or alley, in subway tunnels, or down the median of expressways with concrete barrier walls separating highway traffic from the tracks. In addition to all the physical safeguards, there is a complete, very modern, computerized system in the operator's cab of each train. It tells the dispatch center where every train is located It warns the driver if he is going to fast. Most importantly, it warns the driver if there is another train on the track in front of him. The computer automatically forces the train to come to a complete stop if the driver is exceeding the allowable speed limit. The allowable speed limit is automatically reduced from the posted speed limit if there is a train up ahead. Not only that, there is a "dead man" feature where, if the driver dies (or something less dramatic) and lets go of the accelerator lever, the train will come to a stop.
In Friday's incident, the train was on tracks that were elevated above an alley between Wells and Orleans Streets (about 200 West). The crash occurred between Oak and Division Streets (about 1100 North). The reason the trains crashed was that the operator over-rode the computer system after it told him to stop because of a train stopped ahead, and then the driver was so busy watching the building construction project alongside the tracks that he didn't notice the train stopped in front of him. He wasn't paying attention.
The fact that an accident with so many resulting injuries can occur, even with so many redundant safeguards, proves yet again that we need seat belts on all forms of public transportation. We need seat belts because, despite all the safeguards, we're still dealing with fallible human beings. We need seat belts to protect us from human error. The trains emerged structurally intact, except for the broken windows from heads slamming into them and the need to wash down the inside of the cars to remove the blood from lots of passengers that was splattered all over. If the sitting passengers had been wearing three-point seat belts and if the standees had been holding on tight to the grab bars like they're supposed to, there would have been no injuries.
As for the Hawaii incident, it's the usual human error fiasco resulting in everybody on board getting injured. A tour bus was heading up into the mountains to take tourists to see the Kilauea Volcano. The driver didn't notice that a car in front of the bus had slowed down to make a left turn at an intersection. The bus swerved to avoid the car and slammed into a ditch. Eighteen Japanese tourists were on the bus. None was wearing a seat belt, because the bus didn't have seat belts. Eighteen Japanese tourists were injured. According to a report in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, four of the injuries were critical. As usual, although the engine compartment in front of the bus was crumpled, the passenger section was completely intact. If the passenger section had been equipped with three-point seat belts ("3-PSBs") and if the passengers had been wearing the 3-PSBs, nobody would have been injured. Not one person. Instead, everybody was injured.
The next chapter of my efforts to get 3-PSBs on public transportation will take place this week. On Thursday night, the School Board of Township High School District 214, which is my local high school district, will hold their next meeting. At that meeting, they will decide whether to require that seats with 3-PSBs be installed on a fleet of 23 busses that they are going to purchase. This would be the first time such a requirement would be included in a District 214 bus purchase, and the impetus for including 3-PSB's came from me. It is ironic that the twenty-three 14-passenger busses that District 214 is considering for purchase are somewhat similar to the 24-passenger Jack's Tours bus that crashed on Friday in Hawaii.
If you've always wanted to watch me in action, or if you've always wanted to watch one of my victories take place, come to the meeting on Thursday. It will be at 7:30 PM at the Forest View Education Center in Arlington Heights. FVEC is located on the east side of Goebbert, two blocks south of Golf Road (Illinois 58) and two blocks north of Algonquin Road (Illinois 62). Goebbert is located two blocks east of Arlington Heights Road, a half mile north of the Arlington Heights Road exit from the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90). That's about eight miles northwest of O'Hare Airport and about twenty-two miles northwest of downtown Chicago.
You read here on Friday about how Mitch Kahle, leader of Hawaiian Citizens for Separation of State and Church, got results by going to the meeting of the Hawaii State Board of Education and speaking up for the adoption of good public policy. That's what I'm going to do on Thursday. I'm going to go to my school board meeting, make the case in person and then respond to questions by the members of the school board. I've studied the issue extensively, so by showing up in person, I can address their concerns to achieve the desired result.
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com
