Tomorrow's editorials: The light rail accident and Jim Smith's war chest
Here are previews of editorials we're working on for Thrusday's paper. Let us know what you think. The best comments will run alongside the editorials in the print edition.
--Much is still unknown about the light rail accident that killed two teenage boys in Lutherville Sunday, but the details that have emerged are disturbing. Surveillance video shows that the two were walking north on the southbound tracks, evidently unaware that the northbound track was closed and that a train could be coming up behind them. They weren’t lying down on the tracks, as initially suspected, or jumping across them at the last minute or any of a number of other ways that they might not have been visible to the operator of the oncoming train. Unlike subway cars, which sometimes are run by computers, light rail cars are entirely human-operated. Driving one is like driving a bus on rails. It’s hard to imagine that an alert, focused driver could have not seen two young men walking on the tracks in broad daylight and, moreover, how the driver could have not noticed that the boys had been hit.
--Call it the mother of all campaign finance loopholes. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is poised to leave office with more than $1 million in his campaign account and the ability to transfer all of it to any candidate he likes through his Baltimore County Victory Slate. He doesn’t have to be on the ballot to do so, and he can add any candidates he likes to the slate at any time. With that kind of money, he can be a kingmaker, giving him the potential for outsized influence over who gets into office – and influence over them once they’re sworn in.
In Mr. Smith’s case, this is not an abstract concern. In 2006, with no serious opposition of his own, he funneled nearly $400,000 into the campaign of a relatively unknown lawyer, Scott Shellenberger, leading to his election as Baltimore County state’s attorney.
There are plenty of easy ways to solve this problem, but none of them has much chance in Annapolis, where incumbents have little incentive to monkey with a system that affords them a huge advantage. Eliminating the unlimited transfers between members of a slate would make good sense, but it has little chance, given that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has amassed much of his political power by using that trick. And as long as we’re dreaming, this loophole offers another good reason to adopt public financing of election campaigns, an idea that failed again this year despite Mr. Miller’s unexpected backing. But dealing in the realm of the possible, perhaps we could at least require that members of a slate actually be running for something.
Comments
Andy - One of the riders interviewed on television clearly stated that she thought that she was on the train that hit the kids. She said that they heard/felt a series of bumps, the driver stopped the train, got out and looked, then drove away.
I haven't heard any followup or anyone who talked to the riders of the train(s) involved. Could the driver have not seen the kids, hit them, then not seen the bodies ? Given that one of them was still alive when found, could both or either have been saved given timely medical treatment ? I haven't even seen where anyone has estimated when they were hit, other than "sometime before they were found" - do we not know what time and what trains were involved ?
It seems like there are so many open questions, and especially now given that it seems that this wasn't some "teenage stunt gone wrong" as was first speculated.
I look forward to reading what the Sun has for us...
[I wonder if the person who thought she was on that train was actually on the earlier one that encountered the guardrail on the tracks? //AAG]
Posted by: Dave T | July 8, 2009 12:08 PM
Don't blame the light rail driver. Blame the kids. They should not have been on the tracks. In 2008, two middle school girls Destiny and Rachel, cut school and slept side by side on a rail track between New Hampshire and Maine. Don't ask me why. They were run over by a freight train. NPR later had a program on these girls. I was astounded. The girls suffered grievous injuries, but instead of regretting the incident and ruing the day it occurred the they romanticized their rendezvous at the tracks. They were given positive publicity and depicted as heroes, not idiots, who continued to battle their injuries; their friendship having been cemented more because of the incident. Insane! Where are the parents of these kids? Do they teach them about safety and right versus wrong? Early experimentation with drugs and sex, cutting school to sleep on rail tracks, jumping over train tracks when there are probably a dozen other safe ways to get home are all part of the same pattern of risk taking that these kids can avoid by spending their excess energy on academics. But then, that wouldn't bring notoriety or the thrill of reaching for forbidden fruits would it?
For ever amazed by America
Posted by: For ever amazed by America | July 8, 2009 12:39 PM
Andy - she still had her ticket stub, so determining what train she was on should be easy enough. Has anyone determined what trains were involved ?
It seems like it's a question that's possible to answer (was she on the train that hit the kids, or the one that hit a guardrail)
[Last I heard, they weren't actually sure which train hit the kids. They've sent for toxicology reports on the drivers of the 2:55 and 3:10 trains (which is standard in such incidents), so the ticket stub wouldn't necessarily prove anything. Besides which, if memory serves, the ticket wouldn't indicate for sure which train she was on; it's not like buying an Amtrak ticket for a specific train. //AAG]
Posted by: Dave T | July 8, 2009 1:22 PM
There's a video...
http://wjz.com/local/Lutherville.light.rail.2.1075177.html
Posted by: Dave T | July 8, 2009 1:43 PM
@For ever amazed by America
I'm amazed as well... How can you not place some of the blame on the driver(s) of the light rail car(s) ? Isn't the driver supposed to be alert to people and things in it's path ? Even after the strike, the driver fails to realize he's hit two kids... Who knows if they would be alive had they received prompt medical treatment. How long were they lying there, at least 15 minutes or more.
And then... a second train hit them. A second driver doesn't notice the human bodies on the track, doesn't stop after the hit. It takes a third driver, who's alert enough to notice the kids on the *other* track to take action.
Yes, the kids should not have been on the tracks, but in their minds, they were being careful, watching for oncoming trains. You must think the penalty for that mistake is to be hit by a train and left to die on the tracks ? If either of the 2 drivers is driving their car, and looking ahead instead of whatever it was they were doing at the time, my bet is that those two kids would be alive today.
Yeah, I'm amazed too, that there are people like you in America.
p.s. "For ever" is one word, not two.
Posted by: Dave T | July 8, 2009 2:22 PM
Dave T,
Forever can be one word and it can be two. The English language is quirky. Look it up. This is not the first incident of its kind and it won't be the last especially if people like you take up for the kids and repeat the mantra "Kids will be kids". Kids simply should not wander on these tracks. They were being careful? Then what happened? Should they be punished by losing their lives? Of course not. But should the drivers be punished because they didn't stop in time? Could that happen to any driver not expecting two careless kids on the track? Could surprise cause a delayed reaction in the drivers and result in the death of the careless wanderers? Sure. If the drivers were free of drugs and they were not hurtling or speeding then it would be hard to blame them. This is tragic and in order for it never to occur again kids should be educated that watching oncoming traffic is absolutely not enough when it comes to train tracks.
Forever amazed by DaveT
Posted by: Anonymous | July 8, 2009 2:59 PM
If the driver of that light rail train cannot see persons on the tracks and stop or attempt to stop the train before mowing them down, he/she should be fired and charged with manslaughter. I'm going to bet there was twittering or a cell phone involved.
Posted by: Mark | July 8, 2009 4:51 PM
A very traguc accident yes. I am sorry for the loss of life. But walking on train tracks is inexcusable period.
Yes the engineers should be pee tested and cell phone records checked. But it is total and complete folly to be walking on train tracks.
Youth is wasted on the young.
Posted by: jay | July 8, 2009 5:28 PM
In this one party state do you really think the tax and spend majority in Annapolis is going to change any rules that would not benefit them?
Not in the fleece state of Maryland!
Posted by: jay | July 8, 2009 5:32 PM
@Anonymous (if that's your REAL name)
It's not a case of a driver not being able to stop in time, that's not what happened, not even close. I'm not sure why you think that... You have a wonderful imagination, but maybe you need to read the story and get your facts straight. The news says that effectively, the drivers were asleep at the wheel when the 2 strikes occurred.
I believe that the burden of responsibility falls first on the operators to run those trains in a safe manner, then on the kids for being dumb kids. I do know that the kids were on the tracks, even though they should not have been. It seems that the 1st driver was away from his/her post while the train was running. I can guess that if the kids were smarter, or the driver(s) operated the trains that way they were supposed to, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion and two teenagers would be alive today.
As far as reducing the risk in the future, what do you think is more reasonable; to wait until teenagers get smart, or to insist that trains running through our neighborhoods be operated in a safe and reasonable manner ?
Posted by: Dave T | July 8, 2009 5:48 PM
Both, Dave T both but these kids, they are completely self destructive. They drive me crazy. I did read the whole story in the print edition of the Sun today. Did you read about the 2 kids who slept on the track for the fun of it in my first posting? While driving on the road haven't you ever had a kid on a skate board jump right out in front of you unexpectedly and scare you witless? One of these trains hit the guard rail. This in itself was shocking to me. How did the guard rail get there? The investigators even had to wonder if these kids had something to do with it. The question is not only if the drivers were twittering, on the cell telephone or sober; were the boys doing the same and were the boys sober when they were run over? I am glad the MTA has taken itself out of the investigation.
forever amazed
Posted by: Anonymous | July 8, 2009 6:32 PM
....I was on the 215 train travelling northbound into lutherville...the MTA refusead to return ANY of my 6-7 calls from sunday evening to tues. eve. i was pretty convinced that i was on the train that hit the teens because b4 i came forward , there were no known reports of any incidents OR accidents.. thats funny, what about that huge guard rail that we had hit..why wasnt that reported? i didnt realize that the teens were hit until the 11pm news that night..i immediately called the MTA . they stated that they would take my info. and an officer (from the MTA) would return my call.. well, 6 calls and 3 days later...no return call...why wouldnt they call me back? what were they afraid of? at that point , there was no mention of a 255 train. there were only 2 trains reported at the time. one that hit a guardrail and another that spotted 2 teens on the rails at 315.....why wasnt the 255 train mentioned at that time?..sooo, in conclusion...the 215 train hit a guardrail and didnt report it . the 255 train hit the teens and didnt report it. it wasnt until the 315 train observed the 2 boys laying on thr tracks that something was done about it..how could you not know that you hit 2 kids on a track?. why wouldnt the operator see the kids , let alone , the guardrail?..wow!!! these trains dont need operators if they arent going to properly OPERATE the trains...if i wouldnt have brought this to the media , they wouldnt have investigated this matter any further!!! they tried to cover it ALL up if you ask me!!
Posted by: Steph Ayers | July 8, 2009 10:45 PM