Articles Posted in MBTA Accidents

Transit workers had no warning of a Boston trolley accident allegedly caused by a text-messaging driver, the Boston Herald reported.

As our Boston personal injury attorneys have reported, the accident injured dozens of passengers and led to a new rule forbidding transit drivers from using cell phones. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority accident has been blamed on the driver’s inattentiveness. This week, the National Transportation Safety Board released dozens of documents related to its investigation of the May 2009 Boston train accident. Its final report isn’t expected for several months.

The 24-year-old operator was reportedly text messaging when he ran through yellow and red warning lights and into the two car train ahead of him at the Government Center and Park Street stations. He was fired and charged with felony grossly negligent operation.

The crash led to a strict policy against cell phone use on the job. Violations result in a 30-day suspension and a recommendation that the employee be fired. At least 22 drivers have been disciplined since the new policy went into effect.
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In late August, a passenger on the MBTA Green Line D-line train was reported to have briefly come aboard with a snake around his neck, causing a nine-minute stoppage in service. Less than a week later, a 16-year-old Roxbury teen was arrested after his probation office identified him as the suspect in a stabbing on the MBTA Route 23 bus, the Boston Herald reports.

Boston injury attorneys with Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, LLC, bring more than 18 years experience in Massachusetts personal injury matters. We understand that providing a safe environment for guests and employees is a primary concern for any business owner. Our team knows that in cases where security is questionably sufficient, a negligent security claim may be filed against a property or business owner when a victim is injured by a third party in a preventable situation.

A fire and an escalator accident were also recently reported on MBTA property, leading to renewed questions about the system’s security.

The alleged suspect in the Route 23 incident was captured in several frames by MBTA cameras. He is accused of stabbing a 47-year-old fellow rider multiple times in the arm, leg and abdomen as the bus left Ruggles Station after the pair exchanged words. After the incident, the victim was transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Meanwhile, authorities turned to the social networking website, Twitter, to enlist the public’s help while searching for the juvenile.
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The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has resorted to using bright reflective logos on approve handsets to distinguish between employees using a radio for legitimate work purposes and those violating the T’s ban on cell phone use by drivers, the Boston Herald reported.

Officials hope the move will further reduce the risk of a Boston subway accident or bus accident caused by a distracted driver. With or without the law, a mass transit driver’s obligation is to the safety of passengers. When an accident is caused by speeding, distracted driving or other negligence, serious and fatal injuries frequently result. Such cases usually involve multiple accident victims and should always be handled by an experienced Massachusetts injury lawyer.

Some confusion has reportedly arisen when riders spot bus drivers and subway operators using the black hand-held radios utilized by the transit system. By putting the bright stickers on the radios, they apparently hope to ease the minds of commuters.

The MBTA banned employees from carrying cell phones after a trolley accident in May 2009. The crash was blamed on an operator texting his girlfriend. Since enacting the rule, about a dozen employees have been fired and 10 others have been disciplined.

We question how using “approved” handsets can be safer. Certainly, employees will not be making personal calls on company time. But whether they are personal or business calls, the use of a hand-held device still constitutes a significant driver distraction. I guess accident victims can take heart in the fact that the next crash was caused by an operator using an approved radio as part of his job!

The stickers were put into use after nearly 150 commuter tips of operators violating the cell phone policy; officials contend most of those cases involved workers who were using “legitimate radios.”
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