Our following op-ed appeared in the September 19 Daily News: Blaming Individuals Misses The Big Picture
Despite the fact that Metrolink operates one of the deadliest commuter rail systems in America and MTA operates the deadliest light-rail system in America, our region's rail transportation agencies continue to offer the lone-culprit theory for nearly every accident. This time it's the train conductor; in the past it's been the hundreds of deceased/injured motorist and pedestrian.
The blame the victim strategy distracts the public from the rail safety cost-benefit analysis that our transportation agencies continue to implement with impunity. It distracts the public from the manner in which our politicians have erroneously translated our requests for traffic relief into an unsafe commuter rail and light-rail system built on the cheap.
It may very well be true that in many rail accidents the transportation system's user bears some responsibility. But with accident rates so much higher than their peers, it does not logically follow that the policies and the designs of our rail transport systems are not a factor.
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Blaming the victim or implying that accidents can't be prevented takes the spotlight off inadequate policies, unsafe designs and system failures.
Continue reading for the full op-ed:
Blaming Individuals Misses The Big Picture
LA Daily News
September 19, 2008
By Damien Goodmon
In the rush to judgment in the tragic Chatsworth accident, the focus has been on the actions of the train
As a rail safety advocate who for the past two years has been involved in an intense political and legal battle regarding rail safety of a proposed light rail line in my South L.A. community, that line of reasoning is all too familiar.
Despite the fact that Metrolink operates one of the deadliest commuter rail systems in America and MTA operates the deadliest light-rail system in America, our region's rail transportation agencies continue to offer the lone-culprit theory for nearly every accident. This time it's the train conductor; in the past it's been the hundreds of deceased/injured motorist and pedestrian.
The blame the victim strategy distracts the public from the rail safety cost-benefit analysis that our transportation agencies continue to implement with impunity. It distracts the public from the manner in which our politicians have erroneously translated our requests for traffic relief into an unsafe commuter rail and light-rail system built on the cheap.
It may very well be true that in many rail accidents the transportation system's user bears some responsibility. But with accident rates so much higher than their peers, it does not logically follow that the policies and the designs of our rail transport systems are not a factor.
For the past two years the South L.A. group, the Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line, has been on the front lines of a battle with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about rail safety. Our goal has been to secure investment in safety enhancements on the Expo Light Rail Line, which is currently under construction.
We are concerned that the line will have the same tragic consequences as MTA's Blue Line, which at 90 deaths and 821 accidents is the deadliest light-rail line in the U.S.
In our legal proceeding before the California Public Utilities Commission, the state's rail safety regulatory body, we've used the MTA and CPUC's own reports, statistics, internal memos and e-mails to explain why the street-level Expo Line crossings will be deadly. World and nationally renowned authorities on transportation system failures, human error, rail accident causation, and car accident causation have testified on our behalf.
At each turn our broad coalition and our rail safety experts have been dismissed by the politicians on the MTA and subsidiary boards citing as their reasons: The recommendations and requests are cost-prohibitive, would cause delay, or "would violate their policy."
Blaming the victim or implying that accidents can't be prevented takes the spotlight off inadequate policies, unsafe designs and system failures. Whether it's implementing more active alert systems, building new tracks so freight trains don't operate on the same track as Metrolink, or adopting as a standard that light-rail trains be built elevated or underground in densely populated congested urban spaces, our transportation agencies can be doing so much more than they are right now.
We cannot allow the Chatsworth accident report to be shelved, the investigation mustn't be limited to just this one accident, and we cannot accept as an explanation that the
