Red Line Metro Crash

There's a silence uncharacteristic of Washington D.C. purveying the streets today. The buses are full, metro is empty yet the common understanding innate in the human spirit causes people to acquiesce, remaining patient as the city adjusts to the tragedy of yesterday. Most are probably thinking, "It could have been me." I know I am.

Riding the red line into town today was just as chaotic as it was yesterday. Like sardines we squeeze together, making room for just one more. Yet at a certain point the bus is too crowded and safety issues come into play. One man trying to step onto our already packed bus must not have seen the news yesterday, for he shouts, "What is going on here?" at our bus driver who is all too accommodating to the circumstance. There was a red line metro crash yesterday during rush hour. On CNN last night, the footage of people being rescued was almost too hard to watch. Several people on stretchers weren’t moving. Most people riding the metro are reading or zoning out without fear that at any moment there may be a crash. There are no seatbelts or restraints of any kind on the metro, but then there’s never any doubt that something may go wrong. Here’s what we know so far:

• 76 confirmed injured
• 9 confirmed dead
• This is the third Metro crash in the past 15 years in Washington D.C.
• The collision occurred between the Fort Trotten and Takoma station.
• The trains were going the same direction, but hit with such force that one train was left resting on top of the other.

Speculation sets in. What was the female driver of the second car doing? Weren’t there systems in place to compensate for human error? Most phones don’t have service when the metro is underground, yet this crash occurred above ground. Could she have been texting? What kind of training do these drivers have before they are certified to be responsible for millions of lives daily?

This is not the first crash, nor will it be the last on any vehicle of transportation. But barring what happened with the airplane crash from Brazil and now this, I begin to question the training involved with pilots, conductors and the like. Has our society become lax in the issues of properly training individuals to do their jobs and testing them sporadically as well as holding them accountable for the lives at stake? This accident could and should have been avoided, how can one explain that to the families of those that didn’t make it?

To learn more, visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062203261.html?hpid=topnews