Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Portland Light-Rail Driver Fired
Portland's transit agency has fired the driver of the light-rail train that demolished a fire truck in January, based on an investigation that blamed the accident on the driver. The driver claimed that he had been told that light-rail trains had priority at all traffic signals, so he did not slow down quickly enough when one signal stayed red.
In fact, emergency vehicles have priority over all traffic signals, with light rail being given secondary status and automobiles tertiary status. The transit agency insists that it instructs its drivers to "operate from signal to signal," not from light-rail stop to light-rail stop as the driver was doing. The transit driver's union has indicated that it may challenge the firing.
The accident totally destroyed a brand-new, $300,000 fire truck. The truck was heading to a fire that ended up doing $150,000 damage to a home and killing a family dog. The accident also injured eight people, including the driver who suffered a broken collarbone, four broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. The driver has been on paid administrative leave since the accident until April 1, when he was fired.
This is at least the second accident between a Portland light-rail train and a fire truck. While transit agencies try to blame such accidents on others, the act of putting one-hundred ton vehicles in the same city streets as pedestrians and one- to two-ton autos is inherently dangerous.
In fact, emergency vehicles have priority over all traffic signals, with light rail being given secondary status and automobiles tertiary status. The transit agency insists that it instructs its drivers to "operate from signal to signal," not from light-rail stop to light-rail stop as the driver was doing. The transit driver's union has indicated that it may challenge the firing.
The accident totally destroyed a brand-new, $300,000 fire truck. The truck was heading to a fire that ended up doing $150,000 damage to a home and killing a family dog. The accident also injured eight people, including the driver who suffered a broken collarbone, four broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. The driver has been on paid administrative leave since the accident until April 1, when he was fired.
This is at least the second accident between a Portland light-rail train and a fire truck. While transit agencies try to blame such accidents on others, the act of putting one-hundred ton vehicles in the same city streets as pedestrians and one- to two-ton autos is inherently dangerous.
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