Another texting idiot has caused misery on public transit.....

[marmar]

.....now that bus driver in San Antonio has a kindred spirit.



MBTA: Conductor in Boston trolley crash was texting his girlfriend
May 8, 2009 10:33 PM

By Milton J. Valencia and Noah Bierman
Globe Staff


Saying he was having difficulty containing his outrage, the MBTA's chief said a trolley driver was text-messaging from his cellphone when he rear-ended another Green Line trolley on Friday night, sending scores of people to the hospital and forcing the closure of the Government Center station.

The conductor, 24 years old and with 22 months on the job, was texting his girlfriend, said another MBTA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The driver's action caused a shutdown of a part of the Green Line and left a surreal scene as emergency workers set up a make-shift emergency area next to a circus tent before ushering the wounded to hospitals. It is difficult, MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas told reporters, "to contain my outrage'' at the driver's action.

None of the injuries — 49 were taken to the hospital — was considered life-threatening, Boston emergency medical officials said. But the passengers were certainly startled, screaming, and more than a few bloodied, when the collision came without warning at 7:18 p.m. The speed of the moving trolley was not yet known. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/05/ems_49_taken_to.html

[Deja Q]

1. Well, if people can't govern themselves, bring in the laws and regulations.

I'm tired of articles like this.

Especially when some INATTENTIVE SHITHEAD pulled out of the car park the other day, gibbering into her phone and not PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO WHAT WAS GOING AROUND HER, THE DAMN CRETIN!

Quite frankly, my car was important than her life and I was lucky to have veered in time. Even then, despite honking, she was as casual and nonchalant.

How the fuck she ever got a license to begin with is beyond me...

Shit, man, I have diagnosed ADD and I'm a better driver than 90% of the nitwits on the road.


Please forgive my swearing, I've had it "up to here" with peoples' blatant stupidity and indolence.

[Mariana]

17. Well, she probably wasn't gibbering into her cell phone

during her driving test. Too bad.

[npk]

2. This is what happens when irresponsible kids from Generation Y become adults.

They have trouble transitioning into grown up world. In grown up world we don't text while driving a trolley filled with people. In grown up world we don't think it's funny to text our friends LOL and other stupid shit ever waking minute of the day. Just another product of shallow end of the gene pool.

[marmar]

4. I'm a GenXer.....this dude was 24, which puts him firmly in the "Y" generation.

We Xers are approaching 40.

[npk]

8. Sorry got my x's and y's mixed up. I will correct

Besides your post made me laugh.

[Muttocracy]

18. It's not bad enough we're the low-population generation and usually get ignored...

... we managed to get blamed for Gen Y bad behavior. sigh.

[virgogal]

5. I think the Gen Xers are older than this guy.

[LeftyMom]

10. Well we can't let facts get in the way of a good "get those damned kids offa my lawn!" rant

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

6. In my previous response in this thread, the dunderhead looked late-40s.

Not a Gen-X'er by any means.

Just a damn fool, who one day will get hurt and it won't be me because I like my car and want a good resale value.

In short, generalizing generations generally isn't germane...

[LeftyMom]

7. You can shove your broad brush smears right up your liver spotted ass.

Thanks,

LM, aged 28

[npk]

13. Please come off of it.

What broad brush. I didn't say everybody. I said this is what happens when people from that generation don't grow up. I didn't say all of that generation. But get outraged all the same. It's on me tonight.

[bluestateguy]

12. Whoh there! Don't blame us.

He's 24, which makes him part of the spoiled Millennial Generation Y.

In my day we didn't have text messaging. Only the very rich even had cell phones. They were big cumbersome contraptions and the cost was like 3$ a minute.

[Jennicut]

42. Yup, I graduated high school in 1994. No one in Gen X HAD cell phones then.

The generations after us have them up the wazoo at a young age. We abuse them as Gen X adults now. I want to throw my husband's cell phone at the window half the time. Its rude to text all day and NOT speak to your kids. LOL.

[petronius]

31. I'm an Xer, and I teach scads of millenials. To be fair, however - although there are

plenty of godawful wastes-of-skin among the Y-kids, I seem to recall that we had our fair share of oxygen-thieves as well...

[npk]

33. Good point.

Yes every generation has it's share of immature brats. Perhaps I was a bit to harsh on Generation Y.

[virgogal]

3. He should be fired ASAP.

[Mariana]

20. He should be jailed ASAP.

IMO. People were hurt.

If what he did isn't against the law, it ought to be.

[emilyg]

30. Yep.

[bluestateguy]

9. I hope the transit workers union steps aside and does not get in the way of this clown being fired

Some people SHOULD be downsized.

[Deja Q]

11. They might.

There's still a lot of anti-union sentiment out there and many unions are, forgive me, too myopic to care.

The one I'm in seems to be quiet on certain issues and what they do say doesn't convince many people anymore...

[SurfingScientist]

16. I am pretty sure he broke about 100 laws...

... and keeping his job may be his smallest worry - I bet there will be a ton of charges pressed by prosecutors, his employer, and injured passengers.

[SurfingScientist]

14. There is not enough facepalm in the world for this. NT

[sakabatou]

15. Stupid, stupid, stupid

The conductor needs a one-on-one with a clue-by-four.

[flvegan]

19. Put the FUCKING phone away and DRIVE!

Don't care if its a car, trolley, boat or whatever. You know what, whatever shit you're talking about or texting about just isn't that fucking important to risk other people over it.

You know, I can't even check through a target cashier line without the clerk's phone needing to be picked up to check the last text or tweet or whatever the fuck earth-moving tidbit of bullshit just got phoned in.

Bunch of damn slaves to your stupid handhelds.

[Muttocracy]

21. I watched a kid (20s?) unable to complete a load of laundry due to incoming text messages

His dad/uncle/brother/someone was walking around the laundromat yakking on his cell phone loud enough for everyone to hear every damn detail. Eventually this dude said, you have plenty of time to come over and do a load of laundry and dry it - the laundromat's open another hour.

Kid arrived and slowly started sorting his laundry. His phone would ring/buzz and he'd have to text a reply. 10:30pm when I left he had not yet started a washing machine.

I was in a staff meeting earlier this week, six people sitting around a coffee-height table. We have several new young staff. One kept checking his phone during the meeting. Another couldn't stop checking her phone on the car ride back.

I'm thinking I'm not going to get any Social Security when I retire because (a) too much of this generation is going to be unable to accomplish anything due to texting or (b) they'll all be on disability themselves (carpal tunnel)

[flvegan]

22. You know what I'm sick of, idiots trying to turn a corner in their car/minivan/suv

but they can only use one hand because they've got their stupid phone glued to their ear, obviously solving all the world's most difficult problems, what with the importance the conversation must hold. Of course, not being F1 or NASCAR racing cars, it takes more than half a steering wheel turn to make a 90 degree change of direction, so Mr or Ms Dumbass are all over a couple lanes because they can only use the one hand.

[Muttocracy]

25. Definitely - I wish there were no automatic transmissions

because at least they would stall out in a stick shift if they weren't paying attention.

I've had two dangerous encouters in just the last two weeks. One woman clearly not engaged in driving was not quite tailgating me. I tapped my brakes to see if she was paying any attention. Nope. Playing with her hair with one hand, cell phone on the other, no hands or brain cells on the SUV steering wheel. I pushed the brakes hard and she was so startled I think she may have dropped the phone. She was off it after that anyway. I could use a newer car, but I'd rather not have an SUV decapitate me and my dogs while she's negotiating world peace.

Another day a pickup crossed lanes toward me in moderate traffic. If I hadn't seen him coming and pulled right fast, it would have been a head-on collision, and if it had happened a few feet later I wouldn't have had room.

Driving with a hand-held phone on is, in theory, illegal in NYS, but people don't care or don't know that (lots of out-of-state drivers), and the hands-free ones are still brain-free when it comes to driving. I prefer driving at 1am - I'll take my chances with the scattered drunks and the deer.

[Doremus]

38. We were driving down the highway and I glanced over at the next car.

The woman was on the phone, had a cigarette in her mouth and the hand on the steering wheel was holding a fricking book, apparently to offset the boredom of driving/phoning/smoking.

Needless to say we gave her wide berth until we could exit.

[Muttocracy]

40. scary stuff. nt

[Lars39]

24. "Ya gotta put down the ducky....put down the ducky"

[Muttocracy]

26. wow, the tune instantly jumped into my head

it's amazing what's stored in the cobwebby corners of my brain that haven't been opened in decades!

[Lars39]

28. I danced around the house too many times to that song to forget it. :^)

[Golden Raisin]

34. In Manhattan, in addition to drivers, we've

got 'em in pedestrian mode: on the sidewalks, crossing busy streets, on escalators, and my personal favorite: on crowded, rush-hour subway platforms. SO deeply absorbed in texting or just being on a cell call they are oblivious and clueless to the world (and potential danger like falling onto the subway tracks) around them.

[smalll]

35. But if they're not talking or texting while driving, they are (briefly) ALONE (quelle horreur!)

and whenever they're not bathed in the permanent electronic peer pressure/personal validation/Borg Mind of the Indigo Children ---

they fear a fall into non-existence, they're a tree that falls in the forest the nobody hears (on Twitter) --

I think it's all just as bad as Meth in the long term at least. :shrug:

[Historic NY]

23. Its time for all governmental employers to start collecting the phones...

employees should only have then on a need to use basis.

[Muttocracy]

27. can they make the conductor's area blocked from cell phones or something?

It seems we can't rely on common sense!

[jbnow]

29. A comment after the first article I read said

16. This afternoon I called T headquarters to report the driver of Bus #1 on Mass Ave was texting while driving the bus. He had the bus in motion while he looked down to text. Why bother looking at the road!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/05/green_line_trai.html

Are these guys nuts? Maybe it was the same guy?
I don't know it's history but from reading the comments there this seems to be a poorly run line.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. Young guy, can't be expected to stop texting, for any reason.

[rcrush]

36. OMG jus crasd bus gtg lol!

[Telly Savalas]

37. .

:rofl:

[Doremus]

39. LOLOLOL

[kentuck]

41. There are some things that cannot be multi-tasked...

Driving and writing are two of those things...