Last month we talked about the dangers of text messaging while driving in Utah. After the story was written, we learned of a horrific train crash in California that killed 25 people and injured another 135. What was especially tragic about this was that the crash was caused by the negligence of an inattentive engineer who was distracted because he was sending text messages on his cell phone and failed to stop at at stop signal and ran into a freight train. It is hard to fathom how completely reckless this was. This was a guy who was basically responsible for the safety and well being of hundreds of passengers on the train he was operating, using a device that was absolutely guaranteed to distract him. I expect that there will be a number of lawsuits filed against the railway because of the crash. It’s likely that the claim will allege that the railway failed to have policies in place that prevented its engineers from text messaging or being involved in other distracting activities while operating railway equipment. This tragic crash is yet another reminder of how extremely distracting it can be to drive while texting. Hopefully this incident can be a reminder to motorists in Utah of the dangers of text messaging while driving and the importance of hanging up our phone while on the road to avoid accidents.
Published by: Ron Kramer
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