Be that as it may the real question is why in the heck was this train going 106 mph when the curve speed is half that????
Yep. If I'm in a room of a house, or whatever, and something strikes a window, I'm going to recoil away from that window. It's a natural reflex, and is done automatically.
Could that engineer have bumped up against the throttle while doing that? Someone who really knows the layout of a train's cab will have to weigh in on this.