Posted on 06/18/2013 8:39:58 PM PDT by grundle
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An engineer killed in a fiery train collision in the Oklahoma Panhandle last year suffered from serious vision problems for much of his life, underwent several corrective procedures in the years leading up to the crash and had even complained that he couldn't distinguish between red and green signals, a doctor told a federal oversight board Tuesday.
Despite his failing vision, the engineer continued driving freight trains and was guiding one of the ones that collided June 24, 2012, near town of Goodwell, killing him and two other railroad workers and causing about $15 million in damage.
"He repeatedly complained that his vision fluctuated and was described as OK one day, not OK the next," Dr. Mary Pat McKay told the National Transportation Safety Board during a hearing in Washington that determined the engineer's poor eyesight was the probable cause of the collision.
According to McKay, the engineer suffered from glaucoma and cataracts for much of his life, and in the three years leading up to the crash, he made about 50 visits to eye doctors and underwent about a dozen procedures. He had even complained about not being able to distinguish between the red and green stop and go signals that govern train traffic, she told the board.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Unions can work wonders for disabled workers....
I would say after reading this the families of the two other railroad workers that were killed are in for one hell of a pay day! That they allowed this engineer to continue working is criminal.
So WTF was he doing running a train?
“Unions can work wonders for disabled workers....”
I bet you are on target there.
I once took a test to work for a railroad. One of the first things they tell you is that if you are color-blind you cannot be an engineer or conductor. One question I have though is how the lights are arrayed on a rail line? It seems to me they should be set up by color AND PLACEMENT, the way a car traffic light is, green at the bottom, red at the top so that even if you’re color blind, you can “read” what the sign is telling you.
For the safety of the engineers, freight trains need to be run as drones.
Just took the train to Los Angeles. A lot of the signals are only one light. They are red or amber or they are off!
OK, Thanks! I was wondering about that. It seems to me that there should be a better system set up.
“OK, Thanks! I was wondering about that. It seems to me that there should be a better system set up.”
I think for the most part, our railroads are from the post-WWII in terms of most of the technology. I mean the trip from Oakland to Los Angeles takes about 12 hours. That said it costs about $100 round trip and you don’t have to watch the road, which is nice because the scenery is in some places, spectacular.
You are correct about the track signals, they’re set up like traffic signals. Also, all of the road locomotives have in-cab signaling that displays the track status by picking up a signal from the track itself. Either way, this guy sould never have been operating a locomotive. He was either hiding his vision problems, outright lied, or someone looked the other way when he recertified to operate a locomotive. Just running a red block (meaning the track is occupied by another train) usually get’s you fired on the spot.
I have always wanted to take a train trip through the country. I’ve never had the time though, because most trips take weeks....SIGH.
Wow. It sounds as if someone covered big time for this guy, then. That’s pathetic.
What a train wreck.
I suppose if he had survived, he would have had a stellar career in aviation. /sarc
Cant discriminate even when it causes death to others, it’s just not fair
You’ll note that in the story he passed all vision tests. In the comments there’s an engineer that says the vision tests every three months.
The NTSB voted to blame his eyesight. This is blaming the dead guy for what happened.
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