Electronic Devices, Public Transit & Firing For Cause

It wasn’t until I saw my Boston Globe this morning that I realized there had been another accident on the Green Line – just as hordes of people were heading to a Red Sox game. The story reported no loss of life, but 49 people were injured. The operator of the train, an unnamed 24 year old, reportedly admitted he was text messaging his girlfriend at the time his train crashed into another train between Government Center and Park Street Station.

It has not been a good year for the MBTA, trying to cope with horrendous deficits, and a culture of entitlement fostered by the car men’s union. Not surprisingly Dan Grabauskas, the general manager of the MBTA, citing a zero tolerance policy for use of electronic devices while driving, said the operator would “probably be fired.” The word “probably” elicited sarcasm on the message board of www.boston.com from readers showing zero tolerance for due process accorded even those employees who threaten the lives of others.

Nearly a year ago, there was another accident on the Green Line, this one resulting in the death of an MBTA operator, a 24 woman named Terrese Edmonds. Though news accounts questioned whether the accident might have been caused by her use of a cell phone, investigators later reported finding no evidence that was true.

As the investigation proceeded over many weeks, I hoped the dead woman would be exonerated. Though I knew exoneration would not give her back her life, I hoped it would bring a small measure of comfort – providing her grieving family with the knowledge that she had not contributed to her own death, and the not inconsiderable pain and suffering of a badly injured passenger.

One evening last month, I was traveling on the Bolt Bus, heading back to Boston after the Blogwell conference in New York. Had the electrical connections for laptops been working, I would probably have been too absorbed to notice.

But since the battery on my MacBook was really low, and I’m rarely able to sleep on buses, trains or planes, I noticed the driver pull out his cell phone, look at it for a few seconds, and then make a brief phone call. While this was happening, the bus was traveling at a speed high enough for the driver to be tailgating a small car.

I thought about using my iPhone to Twitter about him using his cell phone while driving. Had I done so, Dennis might have categorized me as a “common scold.” It troubled me that the driver was doing something I considered risky. In truth the reason I chose not to Tweet anything about his behavior was that he struck me as a nice guy. He was friendly as passengers were boarding in New York, and very apologetic about the laptop electrical connections not working.

Had he been in any way rude, I might have been guilty of an act of pettiness, reporting his behavior to the online world. That my act related more to my assessment of his attitude than his driving behavior would have been unkind.

The fact that I hate seeing people use cell phones while driving cars has more to do with my impatience at their slowing down traffic because they’re not paying attention to the changing of a light than any concern I may or may not have about their safety.

Indeed Daphne was mortified to be sitting in the passenger seat during my visit to Orlando in March. Circling and circling to find a parking space at the Orlando Premium Outlet Mall, I rolled down the window and said something not very nice to get the attention of a woman obstructing traffic with her SUV as she chatted away on the phone.

The night I got home from my trip on the Bolt Bus, I bolted for a cab at South Station. During what seemed like an endless journey to my home in Brookline, I was subjected to the cabbie's non-stop cell rant in a language I could not understand – interspersed with English colloquialisms related to money.

Though I rarely if ever talk on a cell phone or even dream of text messaging while driving – precisely because of concerns about safety – I admit that my irritation at the cab driver’s being on the phone was more about my need for peace and quiet after a long day than about personal safety.

The cab ride reminded me of those nights when Dennis and I still lived in the suburbs, and I often took cabs home from late night events. It seemed like every Boston cabbie talked non-stop on his cell phone, sometimes apologizing at the end of the ride, just as I was calculating the tip.

When I boarded the Green Line last night at Copley Square after an event at the Westin, I had no idea there had been an accident a few hours before. The train was crowded but I was fortunate to get a seat. I thought how lucky I was to be able to take the T home – not having to listen to a cabbie on his cell phone.