Posted on 05/13/2015 4:59:57 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
PHILADELPHIA - A former top U.S. transportation official says federal investigators looking into the fatal train crash in Philadelphia should consider seat belts when they formulate their recommendations.
Ray LaHood was transportation secretary from 2009 to 2013. He told NBC News on Wednesday that he's ridden Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line frequently and has often thought about seat belts.
His comments have rekindled the debate over whether passengers would be safer if they were required to wear seat belts.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Really? That's your takeaway? My not-at-all-subtle point was that choosing alternatives to rail travel makes all the difference.
Would banning gay sex save lives? Or banning driving? Would forcing every person in America to eat fish, chicken and veggies save lives?
That stupid “freedom” thing gets in the way.
Seat belt really depends on circumstance and situation, most seat belts aren’t designed to easily separate. Besides the release that most seat belts have should also have an emergency lever attached to a mechanism that slices the belt, so when the regular release fails you can just pull a lever and it’s cut.
California did temporarily ban Amtrak engineers from using cellphones on duty after the 2008 crash....Still not sure why they need them at all but I don’t have one so that is just me...
Those particular locomotives can go 150 mph; the tracks can handle 125....well not in the curves, so much.
looking at the utter destruction...no
would having train engineers that don’t run the train at 106 mph on a 50mph curve save lives?
you betcha
I don't think seatbelts would do much in a derailment at a speed over 100 mph.
Banning people from doing things that can hurt others, that could be reasonable.
But i’m really against the “protecting you from yourself” thing.
Of course it would make a difference. Put some air bags in there too while you’re at it. Sheesh!
I kind of thought the idea was to keep the tracks in good repair so there wouldn’t be derailments. But if seatbelts will make it safer for Amtrak to have derailments and collisions, well then...
O yeah, a seat belt is going to save my life at 106mph.
Good grief.
2,000 tons going 100+ MPH in a straight line and pushed into a curve would remove the tracks from their foundation pinnings and make them follow the straight path force of the train. IOW, rip the tracks right out of the rail bed.
Ha...that’s what I tell my husband when he trues to get me to go to Macchu Pichu (sp)
Applying the brakes probably made it worse.
Seat belts and hand-wringing for thugs in police vans but no seat belts available for those who want to buckle up on a train.
I traveled on Amtrak last weekend. Those tracks can’t handle sh*t.
I also noticed that, as a caucasian, I was in the distinct minority. THAT’s why Obama wants to throw more money at it.
At that speed the belt would squeeze your innards out through your mouth.
Went to Spain in April, and did some traveling by train. They did have seatbelts on the trains, but no one had them buckled.
LaHood also wants to turn our Interstates into TOLL ROADS - not to mention that Obama picked him as his token Republican in his first term.
Something to think about.
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