Tragedy in LA

Texting while driving should be a $500 fine and a heap of points on your license. No questions asked.

 

The rush to get a bill signed in California to outlaw drivers driving while talking on their cell phones passed and went into effect on July 1, but then they forget to add in texting as illegal, too. LAME!

 

Sure seems like they were awful quick to put this on the engineer/driver. Usually they wait for the NTSB report.

Does make you wonder.

 

Illegal to talk on the cell phone, or making it a handsfree state? Big difference.

 

The spokeswoman who made the early reference to the at-fault engineer has "quit" after the NTSB said she spoke too soon. Doesn't change that there aren't nearly enough safeguards in place in the L.A. transit system. This is an above-ground train that shares tracks with freight and has many at-grade intersections in a congested region.

 

I read it that the exec board met and decided she would make the announcement. She did. Then the head of the group said she shouldn't have. She quit for being undermined. I don't blame her.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/09/tyrrell_elaborates_on_her.php

 

AP story that came across tonight hints at the MetroLink engineer being a loner, becoming increasingly withdrawn lately, and not braking at all before the impact

Those details combined sent a chilling thought through my mind.... Could this have been a suicide? Am I reading way too much into this?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jWj-MMfLEf3KOHbrSRxWP_Uxy_hwD9383QLG1

 

Let's not get our panties in a twist about some flack. The engineer was employed by a sub-contractor to Metrolink, which is likely why Metrolink rushed to blame him in the first place.

 

I believe the word I'm looking for is SCAPEGOAT

 

Careful there. While dead men tell no tales, their next of kin file lawsuits.

 

Exactly.
This smells of Richard Jewel...easy target, wrapped up all nice and clean.
Rushes to judgment don't always turn out right, huh?

 

a radio station in LA -- KFI 640 -- reported today that there was a suicide on the same line one day earlier and robert sanchez could very well have been the conductor at the time of the suicide -- this info hasn't been released

also reported that NTSB has not ruled out a suicide on sanchez's part

he ran three warning lights and never braked

that's more than just text messaging