Train Wreck Caused By Text Messaging?

In what “slipped” on the proverbial news cracks, due to Hurricane Ike, was the train wreck that occurred in Los Angeles over the weekend. Some of you might have heard about it, but I tend not to watch main stream news. I read about it this morning, and it’s a pretty crazy story, indeed. Two trains running head onto to each other; must have been a site to see.

The big question is “What Happened?”. The engineer missed a red light stop he was supposed to adhere to. So what caused him to miss a huge blinking red light at a track intersection? One of the leading theories is that he was text messaging while manning the train.

This theory hasn’t been 100% proven yet, but there’s some evidence that points to the engineer text messaging right before the crash took place. A 15 year old has come forward saying that he was texting the engineer a few minutes before the trains collided head-on.

I’m all about staying connected with each other, but there has to be a limit somewhere. If I’m in a multi-ton machine, and my safety is in the hands of one person. I want to be sure the person is paying full attention to the tracks. If the investigation comes out to be true, it will be interesting to see how this will spark the debate between cell phones communications and road safety.

(via: ZDNet)