According to a July 19, AP report “The operator of a light-rail train that crashed [in San Francisco], injuring dozens of passengers as well as the operator, came under scrutiny on Sunday as federal investigators tried to figure out why he turned off the automatic controls moments before the accident. Ted Turpin, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the operator switched the controls from automatic to manual in a tunnel near the West Portal Station and that he never engaged the emergency brake. Had the operator kept the autopilot on, Mr. Turpin said, the train would have slowed down before arriving at the station and most likely not have careened into a parked train while going 23 miles per hour.”

Dangerous Driving Due to Prescription Painkillers Must be Addressed Now
Impaired driving due to overuse of prescription painkillers has reached epidemic proportions. News outlets in Buffalo, Rochester, New York and Arkansas have reported on proposals of Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas to fund police training to deal with overly drugged drivers. As