Submitted by David Anderson.
“A lot of people had the chance, so nobody stood up to say, that is not a good design?”
Incredulous, National Transportation Safety board member Earl Weener asked the question during a hearing in Washington, D.C. concerning the investigation following the Amtrak derailment December 18 just south of Lakewood, Washington that killed three people and injured 62 others as reported July 10 in The Seattle Times by Mike Lindblom.
‘Nobody?’
“Four rail agencies didn’t challenge an unsafe curve design of the track near DuPont where the derailment occurred.”
Nobody.
When nobody says anything, people lose.
Sometimes it’s just a game.
Sometimes it’s the loss of life.
In a tightly-contested pitcher’s duel July 2, 2011 at Safeco Field, center fielder Cameron Maybin of the San Diego Padres laid down his bat in the top of the fifth on ball three and walked to first base.
And nobody said anything.
He wasn’t hit by a pitch. It was ball three.
And nobody – not the umpires, not the Mariner Manager, not the pitcher, not the catcher – nobody said anything.
Maybin would go on to score – the only score – and the Mariners would lose 1-0 because nobody said anything.
If only somebody had said something – anyone, just one – among the “16 of the nation’s top snow boarders and skiers” near Steven’s Pass that fateful day when friends would die.
Because nobody said anything.
“No one gave voice to their worry” of the snow conditions prior to their decent.
Nobody.
And as a result, as described by authors Brett and Kate McKay in their article “Are You a Sheep or a Sheepdog?” they “triggered a massive avalanche; 7,000 cubic meters and 11 million pounds of snow began a ferocious 70mph slide down the mountain. Five members of the group were swept up in it, three of which were gruesomely pummeled and killed.”
The Amtrak disaster – most certainly not a game – happened in part because nobody said anything.
And lives were lost.
And lives were changed.
Because nobody said anything.
Lighthouses are not built for the purpose of creating pretty postcards.
But to warn.
was it 2011 we went to every meeting pleading for WSDOT to rethink this route at this speed by homes and businesses and through roads? and apparently they never thought of one, single design flaw that might endanger passengers or residents of Tacoma/Lakewood/DuPont at 80 MPH. Let the lawsuits commence.
As predicted, this “investigation or search for the truth” is yet another bureaucratic farce. It’s utterly disgraceful. Amtrak will throw a bunch of (our) money at the injured parties and the families of those who were killed, and life will go on. No one agency or individual will be held accountable. All I know, is that if I’m driving my car on the freeway at 80 miles per hour (or 50 miles over the speed limit), cause an accident in which three people were killed, I’d be charged and found guilty of vehicular homicide. And go to jail for a very long time. Now, let’s hear from the apologists.
Residents of Tillicum said something for years. To no avail. Jim Taylor said If there was a crash it would be at that very curve. Trains had to slow down to meet it. Tillicum residents even met with Congressmen with their concerns and WSDOT folk.
Anyone who would listen.
Just saying that sometimes you can say something and nobody is listening. And God rest his soul, Jim knew that better than anyone.
Thank you Sue. Yes we did way more than most to get people to listed. My dad rolled over in his grave saying”I told you this would happen”. I know they say they listen but they really don’t as why wasn’t this alarming factor listen too! Gotta wonder. RIP Dad
It’s not that no one raised a warning: it’s that those responsible for doing something didn’t listen to the warnings. Anyone in a position of responsibility who didn’t listen to the warnings is responsible for the consequences and should suffer the consequences personally: you’re fired and punitive damages are paid by you as a lesson to others. They have also been warned of stopping distances and lack of line of sight to the many crossings in heavily trafficked urban areas: another “accident”…….which might as well have been planned………..waiting to happen. When it does, there will be the wringing of hands, investigations, damages paid to the victims, and life for the bureaucracy will go on as if nothing happened.
One of many Bad curves in this route, lack of training, 60 seconds of pre-flight checks on a new train with no training on this new pulling engine, the brakes on the rear engine not working, missed the speed limit sign so he could slow this rocket down. The Engineer should have walked away, that would have been the right thing to do, why he didn’t will come out later. This sounds like the Freight Line is the issue, don’t say to much so that the bulk oil and coal coming into the Port of Tacoma is challenged also. Shut this line down, what kind of back up is there when PTC doesn’t work? Who do we blame then? A Sign is the warning for speed control before PTC wakes up? The inside of this train engine should have GPS warning Bells going off before that sign even comes into view. What happens if the sign falls over, no warning then? 3 people died on this first trip, all for 10 min getting down to Portland sooner? It took 2 days for the State Patrol after this accident for a response from those responsible. I will never ride on a train to anywhere.