Of misleading headlines and keeping things in perspective

When I was reading about and listening to the initial coverage of last week’s NJ Transit accident in Hoboken, I was on the road and truly worried about the people on board and in the station. I feared that the first reports of mass casualties meant that scores of people were dead. Thankfully, that was not the case. My sympathies to the family of the one passenger on the platform who died; we all want railroading to be safe for every worker and every rider.

 The crash generated tremendous coverage, some of it cringe worthy. The USA Today headline that said “Train had no automatic brakes” made me think that the train brake —— also known as the automatic brake — had failed. The editors and headline writers at USA Today inadvertently made an error in an effort aimed at clarity for a general readership. What they were trying to get across was that the train was not equipped with positive train control, the computerized fail-safe system that is supposed to take over if humans don’t act. Even at a time when American culture and railroad culture (“train world” as my friend John Hankey calls it) are distant from each other, there’s still no excuse for journalists to use improper terminology. I’d invite any of my brothers and sisters in the hectic world of all-purpose journalism today to call or email us (262-796-8776 or editor@trainsmag.com) to check the terms you’re using. We love to see stories about railroading done right more often than we see them wrong.

 I’d also like to see more journalists keep things in perspective when disasters like this happen. Just today, I read that the U.S. is on target to see an increase in traffic fatalities for the second year in a row. Just in the first half of 2016, more than 17,000 people have died in traffic accidents. That is 34 500-passenger commuter trains smashing themselves to pieces and taking every life on board with them. I cannot find a report of a passenger fatality in 2016, and the most recent federal statistics show that in the first half of 2016 that about 500 people died in railroad accidents – most of them trespassers or grade crossing accidents. In the last 10 years — years — 47 passengers died. The bottom line is that railroading is exceptionally safe. The potential for monumental disaster is always there, but the reality is that you’re safer on the train than when you are driving to the station.